AT LEAST 105 congressmen signed a resolution supporting the petition for bail filed by detained Lanao del Norte Representative Abdullah Dimaporo over malversation and graft charges before the Sandiganbayan.
House Resolution 206 authored by Leyte Representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez was filed a week after the anti-graft court served the arrest warrant on Dimaporo at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City where the congressman was confined. Read the related story: "Warrant of arrest served on Lanao lawmaker."
The charges filed against Dimaporo are in connection with his alleged involvement in the controversial Fertilizer Fund scam.
He was accused of granting P5 million in public funds to be diverted to Lanao Foundation Inc. for the distribution of fertilizer and farm inputs. According to the Office of the Ombudsman, "no such delivery and distribution of fertilizers happened."
Dimaporo earlier asked the Sandiganbayan to be placed under hospital arrest while his petition for bail is being heard before the court.
The lawmaker was allowed to post a P30,000 bail for the graft case but the Sandiganbayan granted the Ombudsman's recommendation to deny him bail for the malversation charge.
"Dimaporo must be ensured of his right to fully perform his duties as member of the House of Representatives in representation of his congressional district in Lanao del Norte while the criminal charges against him are pending in the court," Romualdez, a lawyer, said.
The resolution also gives House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. "full authority to do" whatever he should to address the issue.
Romualdez stressed that the resolution must not be interpreted as "undue interference or pressure" upon the anti-graft court in the proper disposition of their colleague's case.
House Deputy Speakers Giorgidi Aggabo, Carlos Padilla, and Sergio Apostol (Liberal Party), as well as House committee on justice chairman Niel Tupas Jr. were among those who signed the resolution.
Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora, Cebu Representative Gwen Garcia, and Camarines Sur Representative Diosdado Arroyo, whose mother, former President and Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is under hospital detention over plunder raps, also supported the resolution.
In a statement, Lanao del Norte Rep. Imelda Quibranza-Dimaporo, wife of the lawmaker, thanked her colleagues for supporting the resolution.
"No amount of words can express our gratitude to more than 100 representatives who crossed party lines and believed that Bobby should not be put in jail," she said. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)