MARIKINA 2nd District Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo and BHW Rep. Angelica Natasha Co on Monday jointly filed a complaint before the House of Representatives Committee on Ethics and Privileges against Agri Rep. Wilbert Lee over “acts of aggression” during plenary debates on the 2025 budget.
Quimbo said in a media interview the complaint was “for improper conduct” last September 25 during plenary debates on the Department of Health’s (DoH) 2025 budget.
Speaking in Filipino and English, she said that while Co was defending the budget, Lee approached them.
Congresswoman Stella Quimbo. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
“We looked at each other, and I knew that based on his hand movements that he was intending to come towards me and I was seeing in his face a form of aggression,” she said.
Quimbo said Lee uttered the words “Kung hindi niyo ako pasasalitain, manggugulo ako (If you don’t let me speak, I will create trouble).”
“He started pointing at me, and as he was moving forward because I was so scared, I ducked behind the podium.”
Co said she did not know “whether I should run or continue the interpellation.”
Quimbo said that due to the stress, Co later fainted.
Lee denied that he intended to hurt the two lawmakers.
“We never intend to harm or bully,” he said.
He said he would explain his side once summoned by the ethics committee.
In a letter dated September 26 to Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co, the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Lee apologized for his demeanor.
He said he was carried away by “intense passion and sense of duty.”
Quimbo said Monday she never received “any form of genuine apology” from Lee.
Co said that Lee apologized to her when they encountered each other during the filing of candidacies.
“I told him my filing… is a reaction to what his behavior was,” she said.
Asked about the timing of their complaint, Quimbo and Co said that they deliberated over the incident before filing the complaint.
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