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Teves camp calls House panel 'kangaroo court' after solon's expulsion

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ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — The camp of expelled lawmaker Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo &quot;Arnie&quot; Teves Jr. on Wednesday questioned the decision of the House of Representatives to vote him out of Congress, calling it a &quot;kangaroo court.&quot;</p><p>According to Teves&#x27; lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, the proceedings of the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges &quot;are nothing but that of a kangaroo court.&quot;</p><p>&quot;From the start of the proceedings, it bore all the hallmarks of an inquisition: the Committee was the motu proprio Complainant, making it both the accuser and the judge; Rep. Teves was never allowed to participate in the proceedings by himself, but only through letters of his counsel, who were never even allowed to present,&quot; he said in a statement.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/16/23/house-expels-teves-over-abandonment-of-office">House expels Teves from lawmaker duties over &#x27;abandonment of office&#x27;</a></li></ul><p>He also noted that the hearings were kept secret, and the final recommendation &quot;shows that there was never a bona fide intention to consider the evidence in favor of Mr. Teves.&quot;</p><p>&quot;To make matters worse, while the Committee was overly strict in not allowing Rep. Teves to participate in the proceedings, it chose to disregard Section 2 of its own rules which provides that proceedings in the Committee shall be deferred if any matter under discussion is before a judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative body, until after final judgment therein,&quot; Topacio added, noting how the Committee refused to follow this rule even after the issue of Teves being tagged as a &quot;terrorist&quot; is still under review.</p><p>Topacio, likewise, said they can now bring the case beyond the House of the Representatives and the Department of Justice.</p><p>&quot;Having been liberated from the procedural and legal monstrosities of both the DOJ and the HOR, we can now shift the battle to for a where, it is hoped, we will get fairness and due process,&quot; he added.</p><p>In its second plenary session, the House voted 265-0-3 to expel Teves from his duties as a lawmaker representing Negros Oriental&#x27;s third district.</p><p>Three lawmakers, among them ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro and Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel, abstained from voting, citing supposed implications of the panel&#x27;s discussion of Teves&#x27; designation as a terrorist by the Anti-Terrorism Council.</p><p>The panel does not usually disclose its recommendations until they are acted upon by the plenary.</p><p>The decision concluded the committee&#x27;s months-long probe into Teves, who was tagged as a terrorist earlier in August as the panel&#x27;s investigation were held behind closed doors.</p><p>Several others, including his younger brother and former Negros Oriental governor Pryde Henry Teves and his alleged bagman Marvin Miranda, were also tagged as terrorists behind the &quot;Teves Terrorist Group&quot; supposedly operating in the province.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yaKX8dEWzPI?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The camp of expelled lawmaker Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo 'Arnie' Teves Jr. questioned the decision of the House of Representatives, calling it a 'kangaroo court'.