Police officer faces arrest for snubbing House hearings
The House of Representatives cited former Mandaluyong City police chief Hector Grijaldo in contempt on Thursday and ordered him arrested after he failed to attend a joint committee hearing for the fourth time.
Taguig Rep. Amparo Zamora moved to have Grijaldo held in contempt after a Philippine National Police medical evaluation found him fit to appear before the quad committee.
The panel composed of the committees on dangerous drugs, public order and safety, human rights and public accounts has been investigating supposed links among offshore gaming operators, Chinese syndicates, the illegal drug trade and extrajudicial killings in the country.
“Sorry Mr. Chair, but I think we’ve given him enough leeway,” Zamora told the quad committee chair, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers. “We’ve been so patient with him and I think it’s the right time to make an appropriate motion.”
Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong moved that Grijaldo be detained at the House’s detention facility until after the panel concludes its hearings.
Grijaldo has not returned since his appearance at the Oct. 28 Senate hearing where he accused two quad committee cochairs, Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante
Jr, and Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez, of trying to coerce him to corroborate former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma’s testimony under the Duterte drug war.
He was summoned because he was the Mandaluyong police chief at the time PCSO board member Wesley Barayuga was killed, allegedly under the orders of Garma and former National Police Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo.
Excuses
Since then, Grijaldo has skipped House hearings, saying he had to undergo surgery for his rotator cuff syndrome.
But Police Lt. Col. Lionel Garcia, orthopedic department chief of the PNP General Hospital, testified before the House panel that the patient was “awake, coherent, cooperative and ambulatory.”
Grijaldo is now facing an administrative case for neglect of duty after he repeatedly failed to attend legislative hearings, according to Police Col. Rowena Acosta, chief of the Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit.
The PNP disclosed that Grijaldo was given 10 days to reply to the administrative charges.
While Thursday’s quad comm hearing was the last scheduled for the year, Barbers clarified that the panel was still after former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
“He still has a lot of questions to answer to the Filipino people,” Barbers said of Roque and his wife Mylah, who were both cited in contempt in September for refusing to attend hearings.
The former presidential spokesperson appeared to have left the country after the House held him in contempt for refusing to explain and submit documents concerning his alleged ties to Lucky South 99, an offshore gaming operator in Porac, Pampanga, that was raided for illegal activities.
