Suplico dares solon to identify 'CA extortionists'
Outgoing Iloilo Representative and Vice Governor-elect Rolex Suplico yesterday challenged outgoing Rep. Herminio Teves to identify the congressmen he accused of extorting money to clear the appointment of appointive officials.
"It's four days already (since Teves made the allegations). I tell him to name names," Suplico, a member of the Commission on Appointments (CA), told reporters here.
Suplico said Teves needs to substantiate his allegations because "allegations are different from truth."
Teves last Friday alleged that congressmen who are members of the CA extorted money reaching up to P5 million from appointive officials to have their appointments cleared. He claimed that his son, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves was among those victimized by these congressmen he called as "Big Five."
He said he was willing to identify these congressmen in the proper forum such as in a congressional inquiry or an investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman.
But Suplico questioned why the elder Teves took nine months "to say 'Ouch."
He said it is Teves' responsibility to identify those he accused in order to clear the names of the other congressmen. "When you throw mud and do not identify the target, everyone gets splattered."
Suplico said Teves' allegations is only "a cheap attempt to divert attention of the public" from the controversy surrounding the firing of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Jose Mario Buñag.
Buñag had said that he was made a scapegoat for the "bungled" policies of the administration's economic team led by Finance Secretary Margarito Teves and Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila.