SEN. JV Ejercito said the Ethics Committee can now conduct hearings on the complaints against some fellow senators after panel members approved the rules governing its operation.
Ejercito, Ethics panel chairman, said he completed the remaining requirements, including securing the signatures of committee members, to get the panel moving.
He said the committee can now discharge its functions, including the evaluation of complaints and conduct of hearings, as the panel’s rules are set for publication, which will allow it to proceed with its work.
“We will proceed as soon as the rules are published,” Ejercito said, adding that the signatures were completed on Wednesday afternoon.
The committee secretariat will have the panel’s rules published in a major newspaper on Friday.
Aside from Ejercito, the signatories were Senators Francis Pangilinan, Erwin Tulfo, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson and Juan Miguel Zubiri.
“We have been awaiting the completion of the required six signatures since our last meeting in March, and we thank our colleagues for their support,” Ejercito said.
He said the next meeting of the committee will be held on April 28, where pending complaints will be reviewed for compliance with form and substance.
At least six senators were facing complaints on various grounds, including Ronald Dela Rosa, Francis Escudero, Risa Hontiveros and Ejercito himself.
A civil society group led by former Finance undersecretary Cielo Magno filed a complaint against Dela Rosa for his continued absence from official duties for more than three months.
Ejercito was facing an ethics complaint for his alleged failure to act immediately on the case filed against Escudero, who had been accused of accepting campaign funds from a government contractor.
Hontiveros has been accused of “witness tampering” in relation to her investigation on the alleged sexual and labor abuses of some members of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ by its founder Apollo Quiboloy.
Ejercito said he will inhibit from the proceedings if the ethics case against him is tackled. “That is given. If there is a case [against the panel members], we will definitely inhibit.” He earlier said a case filed against any senator that fails to meet the requirements set by the committee will be returned to the complainant “for correction.”
