Liban faction of PNRC hits Gordon for holding 2 gov’t posts
Gordon: PNRC not a gov’t agency
A faction of the Board of Governors of the Philippine National Red Cross asked the Supreme Court to declare Senator Richard Gordon as having forfeited his seat at the Senate for also holding the position as chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross.
“It is respectfully submitted that in accepting and holding the position of Chairman of the Board of Governors of the PNRC on Feb. 23, 2006, respondent has automatically forfeited his seat in the House of Senate and therefore, has long ceased to be a Senator,” a group led by former Quezon City Representative Dante Liban, current PNRC board member said through lawyer Manuel Castro.
But Gordon on Sunday said he cannot be sued for occupying a government position outside being senator because the PNRC is a volunteer organization, and not a government agency.
“We don't get a single centavo from the government. Red Cross employees get salaries entirely from donations. The International Board of Governors pay for my meetings in Geneva...The government does not control us. It cannot tell us where to go. We are neutral,” he told INQ7.net in a phone interview.
“Yesterday and today, I spent working for Red Cross trying to get to Albay, but we couldn't land. I don't get paid because this is volunteer work. I've raised billions of pesos, rescue trucks, etc. from the international community for the disasters...I've been with the Red Cross long before I joined politics,” he added.
Liban’s group said they will also file criminal charges for malversation and violation of Republic Act 3019 (anti-graft law) against Gordon.
They pointed that under Section 13, Article 6 of the Constitution, “No Senator or Member of the House of Representatives may hold any other office or employment in the Government, or any subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, including government-owned and controlled corporations or their subsidiaries during his term without forfeiting his seat. Neither he be appointed to any office which may have been created or the emoluments thereof increased during the term for which he was elected.”
"After forfeiting his post as senator, Gordon continued to act as such and still performs the powers, functions and duties of a senator, contrary to the Constitution, the law and jurisprudence," they said.
They added that technically no longer a senator, Gordon may have already committed malversation and caused undue injury to the government "by receiving and appropriating public funds under the guise of being a senator when he accepted the PNRC post since February 2006."
“Unless restrained, therefore, respondent will continue to falsely act and represent himself as a senator or member of the Senate, collecting the salaries, emoluments and other compensations, benefits and privileges appertaining and due only to the legitimate senators, and to the damage, great and irreparable injury of the government and the Filipino people,” petitioners said.
Aside from Liban, those who filed the suit include Reynaldo Bernardo and Salvador Viari, duly elected officers of the Board of Directors of the Quezon City Red Cross chapter.
Gordon said the petition filed by Liban against him is politically motivated. He said Liban was unanimously removed by Gordon and the entire board of govenors as chairman of the Quezon City chapter of the organization.
“We took him out, all 29 of us, including Rosa Rosal, early this year because he took P15 million from the Quezon City Red Cross. He has also refused to have elections held,” the senator said.
“(The Supreme Court petition) is disinformation. It cheapens the Red Cross, these accusations from a man who has not taken the values of the Red Cross, who was removed from all the organizations he has joined in -- the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association), Boy Scouts (of the Philippines), and TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority). Up to now, he still hasn't returned a Red Cross van and car. I feel sorry for him,” he added.
Gordon explained that the only two instances when the government was involved in Red Cross was when the government created it and when Red Cross employees get GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) insurance benefits because the Geneva convention of the International Red Cross requires them.
“This is really disgusting...Assuming his theory is correct, then why was he Quezon City Red Cross chairman at the same time he was a member of the House of Representatives? In other words, he comes to court with unclean hands,” he said.
Gordon said his family has been a believer of volunteerism from way before they entered politics. “My parents started the first blood bank in the country in Olongapo. My son is in Red Cross-Olongapo. My daughter continues to donate Rh-negative blood. We believe in volunteerism,” he said.
The senator said he has been a member of the board of governors since 1992, way before he became senator in 2004.
By Tetch Torres - INQ7.net
A faction of the Board of Governors of the Philippine National Red Cross asked the Supreme Court to declare Senator Richard Gordon as having forfeited his seat at the Senate for also holding the position as chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross.
“It is respectfully submitted that in accepting and holding the position of Chairman of the Board of Governors of the PNRC on Feb. 23, 2006, respondent has automatically forfeited his seat in the House of Senate and therefore, has long ceased to be a Senator,” a group led by former Quezon City Representative Dante Liban, current PNRC board member said through lawyer Manuel Castro.
But Gordon on Sunday said he cannot be sued for occupying a government position outside being senator because the PNRC is a volunteer organization, and not a government agency.
“We don't get a single centavo from the government. Red Cross employees get salaries entirely from donations. The International Board of Governors pay for my meetings in Geneva...The government does not control us. It cannot tell us where to go. We are neutral,” he told INQ7.net in a phone interview.
“Yesterday and today, I spent working for Red Cross trying to get to Albay, but we couldn't land. I don't get paid because this is volunteer work. I've raised billions of pesos, rescue trucks, etc. from the international community for the disasters...I've been with the Red Cross long before I joined politics,” he added.
Liban’s group said they will also file criminal charges for malversation and violation of Republic Act 3019 (anti-graft law) against Gordon.
They pointed that under Section 13, Article 6 of the Constitution, “No Senator or Member of the House of Representatives may hold any other office or employment in the Government, or any subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, including government-owned and controlled corporations or their subsidiaries during his term without forfeiting his seat. Neither he be appointed to any office which may have been created or the emoluments thereof increased during the term for which he was elected.”
"After forfeiting his post as senator, Gordon continued to act as such and still performs the powers, functions and duties of a senator, contrary to the Constitution, the law and jurisprudence," they said.
They added that technically no longer a senator, Gordon may have already committed malversation and caused undue injury to the government "by receiving and appropriating public funds under the guise of being a senator when he accepted the PNRC post since February 2006."
“Unless restrained, therefore, respondent will continue to falsely act and represent himself as a senator or member of the Senate, collecting the salaries, emoluments and other compensations, benefits and privileges appertaining and due only to the legitimate senators, and to the damage, great and irreparable injury of the government and the Filipino people,” petitioners said.
Aside from Liban, those who filed the suit include Reynaldo Bernardo and Salvador Viari, duly elected officers of the Board of Directors of the Quezon City Red Cross chapter.
Gordon said the petition filed by Liban against him is politically motivated. He said Liban was unanimously removed by Gordon and the entire board of govenors as chairman of the Quezon City chapter of the organization.
“We took him out, all 29 of us, including Rosa Rosal, early this year because he took P15 million from the Quezon City Red Cross. He has also refused to have elections held,” the senator said.
“(The Supreme Court petition) is disinformation. It cheapens the Red Cross, these accusations from a man who has not taken the values of the Red Cross, who was removed from all the organizations he has joined in -- the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association), Boy Scouts (of the Philippines), and TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority). Up to now, he still hasn't returned a Red Cross van and car. I feel sorry for him,” he added.
Gordon explained that the only two instances when the government was involved in Red Cross was when the government created it and when Red Cross employees get GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) insurance benefits because the Geneva convention of the International Red Cross requires them.
“This is really disgusting...Assuming his theory is correct, then why was he Quezon City Red Cross chairman at the same time he was a member of the House of Representatives? In other words, he comes to court with unclean hands,” he said.
Gordon said his family has been a believer of volunteerism from way before they entered politics. “My parents started the first blood bank in the country in Olongapo. My son is in Red Cross-Olongapo. My daughter continues to donate Rh-negative blood. We believe in volunteerism,” he said.
The senator said he has been a member of the board of governors since 1992, way before he became senator in 2004.
By Tetch Torres - INQ7.net
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
6:09 AM
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