Senate still lacks ‘no work, no pay’ rule for Bato’s case
Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa may have one thing less to worry about as the ethics complaint filed against him for absenteeism may be junked on a technicality.
According to Sen. JV Ejercito, who chairs the panel that received the complaint, the chamber still has no such thing as a “no work, no pay” rule that can be applied to Dela Rosa’s case.
“If we’re going to go ahead and hear it, the case will be dismissed, because that [no work, no pay] is not in our rules,” Ejercito, who heads the Senate committee on ethics and privileges, told reporters on Wednesday.
The civil society group Wag Kang KuCorrupt may refile its complaint once the Senate has amended its rules to include a “no work, no pay” provision, the senator said.
“If any member would propose that the rules be amended or propose the inclusion of such provision, the ‘no work, no pay,’ then we can make the necessary amendments,” he said.
Dela Rosa last attended plenary sessions on Nov. 10 last year. He had since stayed under the radar amid rumors of his possible arrest for his past role as the national police chief who enforced the Duterte administration’s deadly antidrug campaign.
‘Co-perpetrators’
Former President Rodrigo Duterte is facing charges for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Netherlands, for the crackdown that left thousands of drug suspects dead.
A week before Duterte’s confirmation of charges hearing last month, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I (PTC I) released unredacted documents naming Dela Rosa and another staunch Duterte ally, Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, as among the ex-President’s “co-perpetrators.”
In its ethics complaint, Wag Kang KuCorrupt, a group headed by former Finance Undersecretary Cielo Magno, said Dela Rosa’s continued absence in the Senate constitutes not only a clear dereliction of duty but also a grave abuse of the privilege entrusted to him by the Filipino people.
Magno then said Dela Rosa’s salary and office operations should be suspended at the very least.
“As you know, this involves spending public funds without any meaningful outcome. We can say that his office is technically operating, but the work is not being accomplished,” she said.
Still no rules
The Senate as a whole and the ethics committee in particular have faced online backlash over their alleged inaction on the complaint.
The criticism got more intense after it was revealed that the committee still had no rules on such matters to begin with.
But Ejercito on Wednesday said: “How can they accuse us of covering up for him (Dela Rosa)? As we speak, we’re rushing the adoption of the rules.’’
“They’re accusing us of sitting on it, but the committee cannot act on anything, not until the rules are adopted and published.”
According to Ejercito, the committee rules will finally be published “within the next 24 hours’’ or on Thursday.
Only then can the committee begin its review of the complaint against Dela Rosa and other more against past and incumbent senators, he said.
The next step will be for the committee to notify the respondents and assess the complaints if they are “sufficient in form, substance, and grounds.”
“We will already be sending the notice to respondents of the cases after we have published the rules. Then the next hearing… we will first determine if the cases are compliant with form and substance,’’ Ejercito said.
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