Biliran Councilor filed Complaint-Affidavit before the Ombudsman against Con-Ass proponents

Below is the full text of the Complaint-Affidavit filed before the Ombudsman by Naval, Biliran town councilor Victor A. del Rosario.

Republic of the Philippines)
Province of Biliran ) SS
Municipality of Naval )

COMPLAINT-AFFIDAVIT

I, Victor A. del Rosario, of legal age, Filipino, resident of Riverside, Naval, Biliran, having been sworn into in accordance with law, do hereby depose and say:

That on the faithful night of June 2, 2009, the majority members of the House of Representatives passed House Resolution Number 1109 (HR 1109), which seeks the convening of a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) with the Upper and Lower Houses of Congress voting jointly on amendments to the 1987 Constitution;

That the House of Representative’s act of bypassing the Senate is a blatant disrespect of the political institutions that this country is founded on, particularly of the Upper House of Congress which was built to serve as the partner of the Lower House in crafting laws and resolutions;

That even though there are conflicts in the interpretation of Article XVII of the Constitution which states that “any amendment to or revision of the Constitution may be proposed by the Congress upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members,” allowing Congress to vote jointly would effectively render the Senate insignificant as three-fourths of the House of Representatives alone is already enough to fulfill the number of votes required to pass the resolution, even if all members of the Senate vote against it;

That the collective act of the majority members of the House of Representatives is a glaring display of abuse of power, political arrogance, and most of all a shameless disregard of the Philippine Constitution which clearly provides for a bicameral form of legislature composed of the House of Representatives and of the Senate of the Philippines thereby grossly violating the essentials of Republic Act No. 6713 or otherwise known as the “Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees” especially on Section 3 (a) (b) (c) (e) (g) of the said law;

That is it a must for the OMBUDSMAN being the Protector of the People to conduct and investigation on the cited unbecoming and unethical conduct of the majority members of the House of Representatives under the leadership of Speaker Prospero C. Nograles;

That this complaint is not a political prosecution intended to harass the members of the House of Representatives who are signatories to House Resolution 1109;

That as an elected member of the Sangguniang Bayan of the Municipality of Naval, it is my duty to uphold the policy of our government embodied in our Constitution to repress unbecoming and unethical conduct of my fellow public servants and to advocate that public office is a public thrust.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 11th of June 2009, in the Municipality of Naval, Biliran, Philippines.

(Sgd.) VICTOR A. DEL ROSARIO
(Affiant)