Ferrer files ethics raps against 2 lawmakers for ‘terrorism'

From the Manila Standard Today (Jul 17): Ferrer files ethics raps against 2 lawmakers for ‘terrorism'

THE lawyer of government chief peace negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferrer on Thursday filed an ethics complaint against two lawmakers and accused them of being “terrorists” against the proponents of the Bangsamoro peace process.

Former Senator and human rights lawyer Rene Saguisag lodged his complaint with the office of House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and the House committee on ethics and demanded that Reps. Jonathan Dela Cruz of Abakada and Lito Atienza of Buhay be investigated by their peers.

Saguisag said Dela Cruz and Atienza committed “prosecutorial terrorism” against Ferrer and the other members of the peace panel.

He filed the charges in retaliation for the two lawmakers’ filing of treason and sedition charges against Ferrer, peace adviser Teresita Deles and some Moro Islamic Liberation Front officials, among others, on May 28.

“Lawmakers are in the business of crafting laws and policies, not in jailing people,” Saguisag said.

Dela Cruz and Atienza welcomed Saguisag’s complaint but maintained it was their job to legislate laws, such as the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law, in accordance with the Constitution.

“It’s good to know that former Senator Saguisag is aware that his clients have committed criminal offenses against the Filipino people, the country and the Constitution that he believes would surely land them in jail,” Atienza told The Standard.

“I welcome it as it will give us the opportunity to further ventilate the issues versus Deles, Ferrer and the peace panels for agreeing in signing and then promoting a decidedly un-Filipino, unconstitutional and unrealistic basic law which can lead to the dismemberment and destabilization of our country,” Dela Cruz said.

Atienza and Dela Cruz asked the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office to charge with treason and inciting sedition Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Teresita Quintos Deles and Government of the Philippines Chief Peace Negotiator Professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer and the other members of the peace panel for their role in the signing of the peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Included in the complaint-affidavit by the two solons were all the members of the negotiating panel of the MILF, the members of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, Supreme Court Justice and former government chief peace negotiator Marvic Leonen.

Also listed by Atienza and Dela Cruz as a respondent was the late Datu Antonio Kinoc, a B’laan leader and member of the MILF peace panel who died prior to the filing of their complaint.

“The situation seems to call for action by your ethics panel or its functional equivalent, even an ad hoc one, to avoid a repetition of the mischief,” said Saguisag in a formal letter complaint transmitted to Belmonte’s office.

“The two Congressmen… have to be probed by their peers as a guide to future action and prevent a repeat of premature ejaculation as it was causing needless departmental tension,” Saguisag said.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/07/17/ferrer-files-ethics-raps-against-2-lawmakers-for-terrorism-/