Belmonte to House panel: Fast-track Singson ethics case

House Speaker Feliciano "Sonny" Belmonte Jr. has directed the House ethics committee to expedite deciding on the complaint against fellow lawmaker Ilocos Sur Rep. Ronaldo Singson, who was convicted of drug trafficking in Hong Kong. A radio report quoted Belmonte as saying he wanted to speed up the hearings so the matter could finally be brought up in the plenary session, where Singson's colleagues – by a two-thirds vote of the 283 members of the Lower House – will decide whether to suspend or expel the embattled legislator. Bohol Rep. Erico Aumentado, chairman of the House committee on ethics and privileges, meanwhile said they were still awaiting a copy of the ruling of Wanchai District Court Judge Joseph Yau, who sentenced Singson to one and a half years in prison. Singson was arrested in July 2010 after being caught at the Chek Lap Kok International Airport carrying cocaine and two tablets of diazepam. Aumentado said he and other committee members wanted first to see the merits of Singson's case in Hong Kong so they could use them as basis in deciding the fate of the ethic complaint. Singson was on his second three-year term in Congress following his re-election in the May 2010 elections. If he were to serve the full term of his sentence, the lawmaker is left with only around nine months to serve in office. But as early as Thursday, the father of the embattled Singson, Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit" Singson, was quoted in reports as saying his son would be quitting from his post. Without giving figures, the radio dzBB report also said Singson's House colleagues were still "divided" as to whether Singson should be expelled or just be allowed to resign.—Mark D. Merueñas/JMA/JV, GMA News