TWO women lawmakers yesterday filed an ethics complaint against their colleague, Rep. Wilbert Lee (PL, Agri), for supposedly aggressively confronting them while they were defending the proposed 2025 budget of the Department of Health (DOH) last month during the plenary deliberations on Malacañang’s proposed P6.352 trillion national budget for next year.
Reps. Stella Quimbo of Marikina and Angelica Natasha Co (PL, BHW) filed the complaint against Lee for unparliamentary behavior before the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges chaired by Rep. Felimon Espares (PL, COOP NATCCO).
Lee, who tried to block the passage of the DOH budget over the alleged failure of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to increase coverage for medical procedures such as chemotherapy and other medical tests, allegedly threatened the two female lawmakers on September 25 at around 6:30 p.m. while Northern Samar Rep. Paul Daza was doing his interpellation.
“(Rep.) Nikka Co and I were subjected to acts of aggression by Rep. Wilbert Lee. While standing at podium number three, Rep. Lee pointed his finger at us repeatedly and with force, later on, moved towards us. He uttered the words, ‘Kung hindi niyo ako pagsasalitain, manggugulo ako (If you won’t allow me to speak, I will make a scene here),’ and later moved towards Rep. Daza and forcibly grabbed the microphone from Rep. Daza. While the media caught this, unfortunately, none of his aggressive actions toward Cong. Nikka and I were documented by any media outlet,” Quimbo said.
Two days before the incident, Lee sought the deferment of the passage of the DOH’s budget and its attached agencies during the House plenary debates on September 23 due to his dissatisfaction over its supposed lack of urgency and inaction on expanding PhilHealth benefit coverage despite its billions of pesos of available funds.
“This fight is not just for us – Rep. Co and I – but for every woman intimidated or silenced. We owe it to ourselves to stand up for our rights and dignity,” Quimbo said.
In a statement, Lee said it was not his intention to “hurt or bully anyone.” “Iginagalang po natin ito bilang karapatan ng kapwa natin mambabatas (We respect the rights or our fellow legislators),” he said.
Lee said he did not intend “to disrespect the institution and that his action was brought upon by his impassioned advocacy to put on record the commitments he secured from the Department of Health (DOH) and Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on lowering the out-of-pocket medical expenses of Filipinos.”
The party-list congressman vowed to explain his side once summoned by the ethics panel. “Hinihintay lang po natin na makakuha ng opisyal na kopya para makatugon sa nasabing ethics complaint (I’m just waiting for the official copy of the complaint so I could respond to it),” he said.
From her perspective, Quimbo said Lee’s his actions, “particularly, his moving forward with his hand and eye movement — were an attempt to assault.”
“My instinct was to duck behind the podium for my own safety. I felt physically threatened. Nakita ko rin ang kalituhan ni Rep. Co sa sitwasyon (I also saw the confusion of Rep. Co about the situation),” she said.
“This should not happen to any woman, especially in the workplace. His actions were a clear form of intimidation, and this behavior is unacceptable,” she also said.
Quimbo stressed that as vice chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations, “it is not within our discretion to choose who gets to ask questions,” adding that their responsibility as budget sponsors “is to address the questions of the interpellators chosen by the minority.”
“But this is not just about me or Cong. Nikka alone. This is largely about women’s workspaces being disrespected. Bilang mga babae sa trabaho, hindi dapat tayo tinatakot. Ngayon ko lang naramdaman ang pambubully ng isang lalaki sa Kongreso (As women in the workplace, we should be threatened. It’s just now that I’ve experienced bullying by a male person in Congress),” she said.
Quimbo said the incident caused her “emotional distress.” Right after the termination of the DOH budget hearing, the lawmaker said she and Co cried together out of fear.
“Hindi po iyon tears of joy tulad ng inakala ng marami (It wasn’t tears of joy as many had thought), kundi (But) tears of fear. Si Cong. Nikka, makalipas ang isang oras, dahil sa stress, nag-collapse habang nakikinig kami sa address ni Speaker Martin (Cong. Nikka, after an hour, because of stress, collapsed while we were listening to the address of Speaker Martin Romualdez),” she said.
Quimbo said Lee had not personally apologized to her and Co although he wrote a letter to Rep. Elizaldy Co. (PL, Ako Bicol), chair of the appropriations panel which scrutinizes the annual national budget bill.
“What date is it today? October 14, but this incident happened last September 25? We did not receive any apology,” Quimbo said. “As far as I know, he has submitted a written letter of apology to chairman Elizaldy Co as the appropriations committee (head).”
In the letter dated September 26, Lee apologized to Co for his “demeanor.” “It was brought about by the intense passion and sense of duty to enter into the records the commitments we are demanding the health department and PhilHealth in the spirit of transparency and accountability,” he said.
“Nonetheless, it was uncalled for. Be assured that such incident will not happen again,” Lee said.
