Speaker: Go ahead, disbar me over girl
Everyone does it, so what’s the problem?
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said he sees no problem with having a girlfriend, for whom he is ready to face a possible case of disbarment.
“Kayo naman! Diyos ko naman,
sino ba ang walang girlfriend (Hey, my God, who doesn’t have a girlfriend)?” the Davao del Norte congressman told House reporters via phone patch, when sought for comment on the disclosure of the identity of his girlfriend Jennifer Vicencio by the partner of his colleague and former friend, Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr.
“Go ahead, no problem with me,” he added, when reminded he could face a disbarment case and get delisted from the roll of attorneys.
Vicencio and Floirendo’s girlfriend Cathy Binag had a fight last October at the Masskara festival in Bacolod City during President Duterte’s visit. Binag reportedly slapped Vicencio during the fight.
It was reportedly the quarrel between the two women that fueled the animosity between Alvarez and Floirendo.
Alvarez suspected Floirendo of working for his ouster as Speaker and his replacement by former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Alvarez, for his part, has filed a case with the Office of the Ombudsman against Floirendo for possible irregularity in
an agreement between the Floirendo family-owned Tagum Agricultural Development Corp. (Tadeco) and the Bureau of Corrections.
Alvarez refused to categorically answer queries from mostly female reporters about his relationship with Vicencio. When asked how long he and Vicencio have been in a relationship, he simply said, “Secret.”
Asked about his previous spouse, Alvarez said “matagal na kaming hindi nag-uusap (we have not spoken in a long time).” Sources said he was referring to the mother of finance undersecretary Paola Alvarez.
tried to contact Emily Alvarez, to whom he is married, but she did not answer the call. Emily heads the Congressional Spouses Foundation Inc.
Alvarez also dared Binag to face him. “Teka muna, sino ba siya? Gusto niya magharapharap kami (Wait a minute, who is she? She wants me to face her?”)
Alvarez also defended himself from criticisms that by having a mistress, he has lost his moral high ground and doesn’t deserve to lead the House probe on detained Sen. Leila de Lima.
“I castigated her for her involvement in drugs and not for her love life,” he said in Filipino.
On concerns that his spat with Floirendo would somehow affect the impeachment complaints against President Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo, Alvarez stressed such scenario is not likely.
“Masyadong malayo. Hindi ito aligned, at walang kinalaman itong issue ng Tadeco sa impeachment (Too farfetched, not aligned, this Tadeco issue has nothing to do with the impeachment),” Alvarez maintained.
In wanting Floirendo and Tadeco investigated, Alvarez said the government stands to lose an estimated P25 billion from the lopsided joint venture agreement between the firm and BuCor.
He said the estimates were provided by real estate and agriculture experts using as basis similar developed banana plantations in the country.
Alvarez said that Tadeco was paying only a guaranteed P5,000 per hectare for the 5,308-hectare penal lands. This amounts to P26.541 million per year or P663.525 million from 2003 to 2028.
Alvarez said plantations with the same development scale would fetch as much as P200,000 per hectare. This means Tadeco should be paying P1.061 billion per year or P26.525 billion for the entire 25-year contract.
‘Appalling’
His daughter Paola, for her part, accused Binag of twisting facts to destroy her family’s relationship with Floirendo’s family.
“It is incredible how personal relationships are exploited by Ms. Binag, to twist an otherwise simple question of facts. It’s completely appalling!” she said.
“It deeply hurts my family that the long-standing and cherished friendship with Rep. Floirendo is heading this way,” Alvarez lamented.
“My family and I are shocked that the spin on the issues has become so crass and juvenile,” Paola maintained.
“We prefer to keep our personal lives private despite my father, Speaker Bebot, and I being in public service and we intend to leave it that way,” she pointed out. “We hope Ms. Binag will respect that and stop dragging us into her personal issues.”
She expressed hope her father and Floirendo would eventually patch things up.
“Adults that they are, we expect the parties concerned to address the factual issues head on. After all, in public service public interest is paramount and goes beyond the deepest bonds of friendship,” Paola, a lawyer, said in a statement.