The House of Representatives, whether under Speaker Martin Romualdez or Bodjie Dy, has been fast on the draw in suspending and expelling its members who are perceived—only perceived—to be guilty of disorderly conduct.
By disorderly conduct, the lawmakers meant actions and activities that put the house/den of thieves in sordid disrepute, making it the House of ill repute, too. This is just fine, for we all know that almost all the congressmen and congresswomen are prostituting their oath of office, the public trust entrusted of them by their constituents, for money, lots and lots of money stacked in maletas. Rep. Zaldy Co had put his life on the line to attest to this truth.
Rep. Kiko Barzaga of Cavite 4th district, was suspended twice, then expelled, precisely for disorderly conduct, such as posting unconventional ideas in his Facebook account.
Rep. Janette Garin said Barzaga never took the job seriously despite multiple suspensions.
"Hindi niya sineseryoso 'yung kanyang trabaho. He look at it as playful at kapag merong taga-bulong, ipo-post niya sa FB, gagawa siya ng mga statements. Gaya nitong huli, ang dami niyang statements against senators despite the fact that he was suspended patuloy-tuloy pa rin," she said.
That is not even a ground for suspension. Kiko was expelled because he had enough chutzpah to link Martin Romualdez to massive corruption such as flood control scams and budget insertions to enable these humongous fraud, and made Sandro Marcos uncomfortable with his pernicious queries.
Barzaga was expelled from the House Monday, following a vote of 266-14-8.
He has been suspended twice by the House for inflammatory Facebook posts including insults against President Bongbong Marcos and a recently deceased congressman, jokes about setting the Batasang Pambansa building on fire and accusations of lawmakers pocketing multimillion-peso bribes.
In August, 2023, the House expelled Negros Oriental (3rd District) Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr. from the chamber for “disorderly behavior and for violation of the Code of Conduct of the House of Representatives.”
Voting 265-0 with three abstentions, lawmakers adopted the unanimous recommendation of the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges, which validated "clear and undeniable" evidence that Teves violated his oath of office and displayed disorderly behavior.
In both cases, the House noted that ,,such acts are so grave as to merit the most severe form of disciplinary action allowed by the Constitution in order to protect the institutional integrity of the House of Representatives.”
President Bongbong used his SONA to give credence to the Office of the Ombudsman:s filing of several cases against Romualdez, his cousin, in connection with the flood control thievery scandal. BBM said they pursued an extensive investigation that followed the evidence.
As of July 20, Martin and Zaldy Co are already facing criminal charges for plunder, graft, money laundering, and direct and indirect bribery. With presidential prodding, the Sandiganbayan should forthwith issue arrest orders against them, and jail Martin Romualdez since Zaldy hid his cowardly ass in Europe.
The respondents were accused of amassing some PHP56 billion in ill-gotten wealth from 2022 to 2025 through the diversion and misuse of public funds from allegedly anomalous government projects.
As Martin fights the justice system, he should be like "humihimas ng malamig na rehas na bakal" already, just like ordinary criminals in Payatas who are also facing charges.
And the House of ill Repute, if it wants to salvage its honor, should suspend and expel him along with cohorts in the Tingog Party-list. People’s money in the hundreds of thousands plundered by these hoods destroyed the House’s honor and reputation graver than Kiko’s playful FB posts or Arnie’s prolonged absence.
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