SPEAKER Edmund S. Villagomez has formed a special standing committee on official conduct and ethics.
In his memorandum on Friday, the speaker cited Rule 15, Section 2 (a) of House rules and named Rep. Donald M. Manglona, as the committee chairman with Reps. Sheila J. Babauta, Leila Staffler, Corina Magofna, Angel Demapan, Joseph Leepan Guerrero and Patrick San Nicolas as members.
Demapan, Guerrero and San Nicolas are minority bloc members.
Each member of the special committee “shall make an affirmation under oath that he/she will perform his/her duties as provided in the rules, and that he/she will not disclose confidential information acquired by him/her as a result of his participation in the work of the committee.”
In an interview, Manglona said they are now in the process of formulating ground rules and a confidentiality agreement, and after that they will present their rules to the speaker.
In an earlier interview, Speaker Villagomez said the ethics committee is formed not necessarily to investigate the sexual abuse complaints against Rep. Edwin Propst.
“My intent is to establish this committee so that if any further ethics issue comes up in the future, we will have the committee already in place,” the speaker said.
Although the committee has been formed in response to an ethics complaint against Propst, the speaker said, “It’s not just for him.”
When the committee completes investigating the allegations against Propst the speaker said, “I’m not dismantling it. It will be in place for the rest of the term.”
Donald Manglona
