THE spat between two congressmen from Surigao has escalated, as one filed an ethics complaint, while the other is preparing a similar complaint.
In an eight-page verified complaint filed at the House Committee on Ethics on Tuesday, Lakas Rep. Prospero A. Pichay Jr. of the First District of Surigao del Sur said Nacionalista Party Rep. Robert Ace S. Barbers of the First District of Surigao del Norte violated Section 138 (a), Rule XIX of the Code of Conduct of the House of Representatives when Barbers allegedly hurled invectives against Pichay during the initial deliberations on Charter change conducted by the Committee on Constitutional Amendments on October 12.
But Barbers said he is ready to answer the complaint Pichay has filed against him, even as he vowed to file a countercharge.
“I am also preparing a complaint against him [Pichay] before the House committee on ethics,” Barbers said. “The basis [of the complaint]: surprise.”
Barbers and Pichay exchanged invectives and expletives during the commitee deliberations on Charter change.
The committee, chaired by Liberal Party Rep. Roger G. Mercado of the Lone District South Leyte, was about to vote on a motion to adopt the proposal for Congress to convene as a constituent assembly (Conass) as the mode in rewriting the Constitution.
Pichay, among other lawmakers, proposed that senators be invited to sit with congressmen in discussing amendments to the 1987 Constitution.
He said the Constution provides that any amendments to the Constitution may be proposed by Congress upon a vote of three-fourths by all of its members.
But, Barbers dismissed Pichay’s motion as “senseless” and “stupid.”
This prompted Mercado to suspend the hearing.
After a few minutes, Barbers approached Pichay, who was on his seat at the time, to ask what Pichay’s motion was about.
But Pichay reacted negatively to Barbers’s question, which prompted them to use cuss words until Barbers had to leave the room.
In his complaint, Pichay said Barbers’s actions “constitute disorderly behavior and, therefore, can be considered a dishonorable act, not only against me, but the entire institution, which is the House of Representatives.”