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00:00Cassandra Lee Ong's camp failed when she was transferred to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong.
00:06Ong was played after the camera sighted and contempted her because she did not answer the questions of the congressmen in the hearing of the Quad Committee.
00:14This is the latest news from Joseph Moro.
00:18Cassandra Lee Ong was transferred, one of the members of POGO, to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong,
00:25a facility where women who are sentenced to criminal cases are usually imprisoned.
00:30Ong was imprisoned not because she was sentenced by the court,
00:36but because of the camera's contempt citation,
00:38after the congressmen did not answer some of the questions about her so-called leadership in POGO.
00:44They cannot impose upon the facilities belonging to the executive branch.
00:49And CIW is under the Bucor, which is in turn under the DOJ, an executive facility.
00:56So what is the basis you put there?
00:58We can determine as to where the person will be detained and as to how many days.
01:06Detention facility, it can be in the house, it can be in the city jail, it can also be in other correction facilities.
01:17Attorney Harry Roque's contempt is now approved.
01:20One of the congressmen who is being arrested for contempt is the former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque,
01:25who repeatedly did not respond to the hearing of the House Quad Committee in its investigation on POGO.
01:31During his visit to the Supreme Court to stop the arrest order,
01:35he called it a grave abuse of discretion by the House Quad Committee
01:39and it is undermining the power of equity and judicature.
01:44To what extent is the power of the Congress, that is the Senate and the House of Representatives,
01:49in their hearings in aid of legislation or in their enactment of proposed laws?
01:55Can they issue arrest warrants and put them in jail, even in ordinary prisons?
02:01According to the former president of the Integrated Board of the Philippines or IBP, Atty. Domingo Cayosa,
02:07in the Constitution, the power of the Congress is to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation.
02:12The Constitution does not stipulate the power to issue contempt and issue arrest warrants but...
02:17The contempt power is inherent in that power to hear because that also includes the power to subpoena
02:29and also the power to order an arrest if you don't obey the subpoena.
02:34Even if you have the power and authority to hear or investigate,
02:40if you don't have the power to call them, or even if it's useless.
02:46The Senate and House of Representatives have their own rules on how to use these powers.
02:51They said that. Not the witness, not the Supreme Court.
02:55The same way that Congress cannot pass a law saying this should be the procedure in the judiciary.
03:04Under the rules of the House of Representatives, two-thirds of the members of the committee should approve the contempt order
03:09and detain those who do not exceed 10 days in a place designated by the chairperson of the committee.
03:15Under the rules, the Congress can issue arrest warrants like the correctional.
03:20We are already full here. Secondly, we feel that she's probably going to cooperate if she will be isolated.
03:36The Senate has different rules on contempt but it can also issue arrest warrants.
03:40But so far we have not yet done that. We have a detention facility that can accommodate, I believe, eight people.
03:49And expandable to another eight again, should the need arise.
03:54Yeah, they can. For example, their detention center is already full in Congress or in the Senate.
04:00They can or they feel it's safer there. Because they are detention prisoners.
04:05The legislative branch can coordinate with the executive.
04:09If the executive accommodates the request, there's nothing wrong with that.
04:16It's not the prisoner who will choose. You should put me here.
04:21But until when can a resource person be imprisoned?
04:25It was decided in 2018 in the Supreme Court that a fratman should be contempted by the Senate
04:30after he became the president of the frat.
04:33According to the Supreme Court, the contempt order is only effective until the hearing is not over.
04:39It will be considered over if there is a committee report or if the term of the Chamber or Senate is over.
04:45The contempt power is just a mechanism not to punish.
04:50Because you are not accused, you are not convicted.
04:54But to enforce or encourage cooperation.
04:59If you are not hiding anything and you are willing to tell the truth, you have no problem.
05:06You will not be convicted in those exceptional circumstances that grave abuse of discretion.
05:11If your right to our Constitution is being violated, the Supreme Court is there.
05:19Both the Senate and the Chamber are defending that they are not abusing their contempt powers.
05:25This is the first news. Joseph Morong for GMA Integrated News.
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