Several committees of the House of Representatives in the 19th Congress have issued a total of 37 contempt citations to individuals.
This developed as the House of Representatives under the leadership of Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez completed a 16-person detention facility that has been unveiled to hold resource persons ordered detained by the chamber in the exercise of its legislative and oversight functions.
House Secretary-General Reginald Velasco and Sergeant-at-Arms Napoleon Taas led the inauguration of the four-room facility located at the building of the Legislative Security Bureau (LSB) last Wednesday, with some House members as special guests.
It was learned that total of 37 contempt citations were issued by the following committees in the 19th Congress: Public Accounts; Public Order and Safety; Human Rights; Dangerous Drugs; Franchise; Agriculture, and others.
Before the unveiling of the detention facility, the chamber had no permanent structure to accommodate those cited in contempt. Now, each of the four rooms of the detention facility can accommodate four persons comfortably, said Velasco.
As of present, there are two individuals who are detained at the House of Representatives: Daisy Quiros, a real estate broker ordered detained by the Committee on Public Accounts, and Ronilyn Baterna, the Corporate Secretary of Lucky South 99 ordered detained by the Committee on Public Order and Safety.
