Belmonte hit for rejecting proposed House probe on hostage tragedy

House minority leader Edcel Lagman on Friday scored what he consider Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr's "double standard" approach in the conduct of congressional inquiries. The House Speaker on Tuesday rejected the proposal to conduct of a separate investigation on the botched hostage rescue operation on August 23, in which eight tourists from Hong Kong were killed. [See story: Belmonte rejects proposal for House probe on hostage incident] “While the House of Representatives is inordinately protective of its power of impeachment against perceived intrusions of the Supreme Court, it forfeits with alacrity its power of inquiry in aid of legislation purportedly in deference to the Office of the President," Lagman said in a press statement. He was referring to the insistence of the House leadership to push through with its Constitutional mandate to hear the impeachment complaints against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez amid the status quo ante order of the Supreme Court. [See story: Ex-SC justice to represent House in oral arguments on Ombudsman impeachment] “The House leadership uses two contrasting standards in resisting the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review in impeachment proceedings, on the one hand and abandoning to the Executive its primary function of conducting Congressional investigations, on the other," the Albay representative said. Moreover, He said the House probe will not duplicate the probe conducted by the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC), but would improve and amplify the same, even as the principal purpose is in aid of legislation. “The question is not whether the House would ultimately receive the full report but that propriety and courtesy demand that a co-equal body like the House must be given immediately the complete and unabridged report as submitted by the IIRC to the President one week ago and also by the Department of Foreign Affairs to the Chinese ambassador," Lagman added. Lagman wrote to Rep. Pablo John Garcia, committee on public order and safety chairman, with copies of the letter furnished to Belmonte and Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II for the conduct of a House investigation on the incident. The committee on good government should also be part of the inquiry, the letter also said. At least 11 resolutions have been filed calling for a House probe on the hostage tragedy. He said the House committee on public order and safety earlier deferred its own investigation, reportedly in deference and courtesy to the then projected investigation of the IIRC as ordered by President Benigno Aquino III. The IIRC has already rendered its report, although it did not furnish the House of Representatives a copy, Lagman said. He added the House leadership cannot simply disregard the resolutions just like it did dozens of bills proposing the postponement of the barangay elections, simply because the President wanted the village polls to push through as scheduled this October. Lagman said the chamber must conduct its own inquiry because it is the inherent right of the House to hold investigations in aid of legislation which is not the same purpose of the inquiry conducted by the IIRC constituted by President Aquino. He further said the House also has the authority to investigate, through the committee on good government, acts of malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance committed by government officials and employees. He reiterated that the House has not been furnished until now as copy of the full IIRC report. Lagman believes the report is “incomplete, inadequate and faulty even as it failed to investigate ranking members of the Cabinet who may have been responsible and accountable for the fiasco and exempted them from possible culpability." — LBG, GMANews.TV