After near fistfight, Barbers files ethics case vs Pichay

MANILA- Surigao del Norte Second District Representative Robert Ace Barbers on Tuesday filed counter charges of unethical behavior against Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr. a month after their near fistfight in a hearing of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments.

But while Pichay's complaint centers on the near fistfight, Barbers' complaint is for willful violation of the anti-graft law and the constitution, abuse of authority, inappropriate behavior, conflict of interest and conduct unbecoming of a public official, for muscling his way into stealing the business identity, theft of minerals and profiting at least P86 million from a suspended mining firm in Claver, Surigao del Norte. The charges were filed before the House Ethics committee.

• READ: After near-brawl, Barbers links Pichay to illegal mining

Barbers said it is not tolerable for a legislator to pursue his conflicting financial interests with the government while discharging his public duties.

"Mr. Pichay clearly falls in this category and in the eyes of the public, he does not creditably reflect the good name and reputation of this august Chamber," he said in a statement.

Barbers said he has voluminous documents to show that Pichay violated the Constitution and Anti-Graft laws when he committed "direct or indirect financial interest in any contract, franchise or special privilege granted by the government" and for "intervening in any matter before any office of the government for his own pecuniary benefit."

Barbers explained that Pichay's role in the corporate identity and mineral theft of CMDC started in 2015 when he claimed he had bought substantial or majority shares of the Claver Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC) from one Fe Ligtas.

Between 2002 and 2006, Ligtas had sold all her shares to the Hervic Calo group and the Ireneo Cesar group. The Court of Appeals, in its recent decision on the CMDC corporate squabble, stated that Ligtas owns only 0.03 percent of the firm.

Ligtas later formed a new corporation and tried to re-register it with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) using the same CMDC name.

Upon discovery though, the SEC ordered her to rename it. She complied by renaming it to Earth Power Mining Corporation, and later to Henhao Equipments Corporation.

She later sold her majority shares to Pichay.

"This means that what Mr. Pichay bought, if he really did, wittingly or unwittingly, from Ms. Ligtas was a firm totally different and distinct from CMDC," said Barbers.

Using spurious documents to lay claim, take control, and operate the CMDC mine site; and removing the stockpile of nickel ores at the suspended mine site for environmental reasons as a pretext, Barbers said Pichay managed to muscle his way into obtaining permits to mine, haul, ship and sell minerals from the DENR's Mines and Geosciences Board.

Pichay wrote at least two letters to the Minerals and Geodetics Bureau (MGB) dated August 15 and 22, 2016, when he was already a congressman. By threat and intimidation, Pichay was able to secure the questionable permits from the MGB to steal and sell mineral ores in the approximate amount of 86 Million pesos.

Citing the House's Code of Conduct (Section 139), based on the approved Rules of the House of Representatives, he said it states that all its members "shall act creditably; won't have personally, directly or indirectly interested in contracts, franchise and special privileges granted by the government; and shall not intervene in any matter before any office of the government for pecuniary benefit."

Barbers said Pichay blatantly and flagrantly violated the Constitution, the Anti-Graft Practices Act, and the House's Code of Conduct based on approved Rules being adopted by the House of Representatives.

"The misdeeds of Mr. Pichay does not simply involve propriety or impropriety of acts or conduct in parliamentary proceedings. They relate to serious culpable acts of graft and corruption abhorred expressly by the Constitution," he said.

As to Pichay's challenge that Barbers shed his parliamentary immunity and hurl the accusations outside of Congress, Barbers challenged Pichay to just answer squarely all the charges against him instead of diverting the issue.

"It is funny when Pichay accuses me of hiding behind parliamentary immunity instead of answering the charges squarely. His tactic is the escape and defense of the guilty. We have seen and heard this tactic like a broken record so many times in public officials accused in the same manner, they will challenge the accuser to come out in the open and shed his immunity, only to be proven guilty nonetheless," Barbers said.

"The issue is whether or not Pichay committed the illegal acts being alleged. The venue or forum where the expose' was made is a non-issue, and only real men would be man enough to acknowledge this. I can prove and I can state my allegations against Mr. Pichay in and out of the halls of Congress. There's nothing to be afraid of if one is telling the truth. All I stated against him are backed up by documents and information provided me by my constituents and others whom he oppressed and took advantage of, at present and in the past," he added.

Barbers argued, "nobody is doing anything to smear Mr. Pichay's reputation."

"You can all dig into to the numerous administrative and criminal cases that have been filed against him in the past in various courts. Just Google his name and you all will find out that he himself, not anybody, had openly and brazenly smeared his own name and reputation," he further said.

"I have provided the evidence. It's his turn to controvert it. He can also deliver his answer the same way I did mine, through a privilege speech."

Barbers also maintained that he delivered a privilege speech not to escape liability, but "because Congress has the jurisdiction over his unlawful and illegal activities that destroys the image of the House of Representatives."

As to Pichay's claim that Barbers' anger is politically motivated because Pichay caused his losses in the past elections, Barbers said that Pichay "must be hallucinating".

"He wants to project that he is a kingpin in my province. How can that be when he is not even a kingpin in his own province? Besides, I challenge him, if he is man enough, to take residence in my district and run against me next elections so that he can prove what he is saying. The Matugases and Romarates have been politicians in my province way before my late father introduced an obscure Butch Pichay to then President Fidel Ramos," he revealed.

PICHAY CONFIDENT

Pichay welcomed the move, confident of a thorough and impartial investigation that would show that Barbers had lied to the plenary during his speech on Monday and was motivated by his political vendetta against Pichay as payback for the string of election losses suffered by the Barbers clan in their own province since 2007.

"Firstly, Barbers lied when he claimed he was making his privilege speech and now filed this ethics complaint as a crusader against graft and corruption. The truth is, he is motivated by partisan politics and his burning desire to get back at me for supporting the political opponents of his family in Surigao del Norte," he said.

"However, I am not to blame for the losses of the Barbers in Surigao del Norte. Instead of blaming me, he should reflect on his actions which caused them to be repudiated by their own province-mates."

Pichay said his group had purchased CMDC in October last year when he was not yet a member of the House.

He said the company already had an existing mineral sharing agreement with the government even before he purchased his shares, and thus the transaction was not contrary to any provisions under the Constitution or laws as alleged by Barbers.

"The CMDC offices, mine site and wharf are also located in Carrascal, Surigao del Sur and not in Surigao del Norte as Barbers claimed. This is but another example of the inaccuracies and outright lies being peddled by Barbers."

Pichay said the new owners were not operating the mine but were rehabilitating it to reverse the environmental degradation caused by the previous management which saw the mine's closure in 2012 by the MGB.

He said CMDC had also gone through the proper process to acquire ore shipment permits during the previous administration before he became congressman. The ore shipments were part of the mine rehabilitation program mandated by the MGB, since these were waste ores accumulated during the cleanup and were not the result of a resumption in mine operations.

Cesar Detera, CMDC President said the new owners already spent substantial sums to clean up waste ores around the mine site, install a new siltation pond complex, re-contour the mountainside to minimize erosion leading to further siltation into the bay, and put up tree nurseries and replant trees in the denuded areas.

Detera said there was no dispute in CMDC's ownership as claimed by Barbers, since the personalities he cited in his speech had not filed any cases with the SEC or the courts to gain control over the company. Neither was there any case of corporate identity theft as also claimed by Barbers,

"Obviously, the personalities that Congressman Barbers cited in his privilege speech have misled him by presenting a twisted and false version of events," said Detera.

Further, he said CMDC was awaiting the dispute between the Mamanwas and Manobo tribes to be resolved before the company implements any mineral sharing arrangement with indigenous peoples as mandated by law.

"It is untrue that any indigenous peoples have been driven out of the mine area, which is in fact unpopulated and designated as a mineral reservation and not for other purposes," said Detera.

Meanwhile, Detera flatly denied that CMDC had earned P86 million from the allowed ore shipments.

"We have been substantially out of pocket due to the purchase of the mine and for the rehabilitation program so that the mine can meet all environmental laws."