House committee issues subpoena to Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos

June 29, 2017

The House committee on good government and public accountability issued a subpoena compelling Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos to attend its hearing on July 25 in connection with alleged misappropriation of P66.45-million public funds. Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, the panel chairman, said the subpoena ad testificandum dated June 25 against Marcos was signed by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. Pimentel said the failure of Marcos to attend the probe is a ground for her to be cited in contempt and soon order her arrest. “You are hereby directed to appear before the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability of the House of Representatives to testify under oath relative to the subject matter under inquiry on the Committee Hearing scheduled on July 25, 2017, 9:30 a.m. at the Conference Room 1 and 2 Ramon Mitra Building, House of Representatives, Batasan Pambansa Complex, Constitution Hills, Quezon City,” according to the subpoena. “Failure to comply with this order is subject to penalty under the law,” it said. On Wednesday, Pimentel reiterated the House position junking Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno’s request not to push through with its “show cause order” against three Court of Appeals justices. Pimentel’s committee has been investigating the provincial government’s alleged misappropriation of P66.45 million in public funds representing Ilocos Norte’s share of excise tax collections from locally manufactured Virginia type cigarettes. Six provincial executives have been detained at the House of  Representatives since May 29 “for their contemptuous act of giving evasive answers, tantamount to refusal to answer” questions about the money meant for the benefit of tobacco farmers, but supposedly misused as cash advances for the purchase of motor vehicles without public biddings. DMS