An alleged former collector of the Bureau of Customs' defunct Command Center on Monday was declared out of order for questioning the quorum in the Senate blue ribbon committee's hearing on the P6.4-billion drug shipment from China. Current top breaking Philippine…
An alleged former collector of the Bureau of Customs’ defunct Command Center on Monday was declared out of order for questioning the quorum in the Senate blue ribbon committee’s hearing on the P6.4-billion drug shipment from China. “Your honor and the chairman of this honorable blue ribbon committee, I hope you won’t take it against me but as per advice of my lawyer, may we know if there’s an existence of the quorum in accordance with your rules,” Gemma Castillo said. Senator Panfilo Lacson answered, « Kami lang pwede mag-question n’on, Gemma. Di ka kasali rito, saka ito suspended lang last time. » « You are out of order, you are courting contempt. Tell your lawyer to study his law, » Senator Richard Gordon, the chairman of the committee, added. However, Castillo continued and pointed out that the rights of a person appearing in any hearings should be respected. « In accordance with Article 4 of Section 21 po of the Constitution, as per my lawyer’s advice, the Senate or the House of Representative or any of its respective committees may conduct po inquiries in aid of legislation in accordance po with his duly public rules of procedure and the rights of a person appearing in or affected po by such inquiries must be respected, » Castillo said.
