Contempt order vs Argo execs lifted
THE House Committee on Agriculture and Food chaired by Quezon Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga on Tuesday afternoon lifted the contempt order issued against Argo International Forwarders Inc. officials after providing explanations about their actions that the panel chairman and SAGIP Party-list Rodante Marcoleta found to be satisfactory.
“The Committee on Agriculture and Food met at one o’clock this afternoon to consider the appeal of Atty Ryan Jan Cruz to lift the contempt orders issued by the Committee during its March 7, 2023 inquiry on the possible hoarding and other acts of price manipulation of agricultural commodities to Mr. John Patrick Sevilla, Operations Manager Argo Cold Storage; Mr. Efren Zoleta Jr., President Argo Cold Storage; and Atty. Ryan Jan Cruz, External Counsel Argo Cold Storage,” Enverga said.
“Signifying their willingness to cooperate, help in the ongoing inquiry, and having complied with the documentary requirements requested, the Committee unanimously agreed to lift the contempt orders and begin the process of their release,” Enverga added.
Marcoleta stated that he has no objection to the lifting of the contempt order as long as all the conditions imposed by the committee’s orders are fully complied with.
“The data that they had initially filed for compliance is only for 2022. And I understand that they are trying to get as far back as 2020, so that will be three years in a row, that we shall be able to
analyze and study the data that will eventually help us hunt these economic predators Mr. Chair,” Rep. Marcoleta said.
He added that part of the Argo officials’ compliance is the submission of their monthly electric consumption data from the year 2020 up to 2022.
Argo Legal Counsel Atty. Ryan Jan Cruz, in a letter, addressed to the committee, appealed to have the contempt order lifted and committed to submitting the remaining documents. He also stated that Argo has already started photocopying the records Tuesday.
Cruz clarified to the committee members that he has no intention to disregard their orders or delay the proceedings of the investigation.
Argo President and General Manager Efren Zoleta Jr. and Operations Manager John Patrick Sevilla also apologized to the committee and assured the panel of their full cooperation.
Zoleta, Sevilla, and Cruz were detained in the House of Representatives detention center after the Committee cited them as contempt during the March 7, 2023 proceedings of the motu proprio investigation into possible hoarding and price manipulation of agricultural products.
The three Argo officials were detained after it was discovered that their service agreement lacked an acceptable confidentiality clause.
The Argo officials repeatedly claimed that Argo’s service contract has a confidentiality clause that prevented them from disclosing the details of the contracts to the committee.
