Labor group wants Bertiz expelled for ‘disorderly behavior’

A militant labor group on Monday pushed for ACTS OFW Rep. Aniceto Bertiz’s expulsion from Congress for his “disorderly behavior” and for being a “habitual abuser of authority.”

“He is not worthy to represent our sector in Congress. He is only representing himself and his kind—recruitment agencies. He is a power tripper and he thinks he can get away with it because of his closeness to President Duterte and his personal assistant, Secretary [Christopher] Bong Go,” Migrante-United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-Migrante-HK) chair Dolores Balladares-Pelaez said.

In a dialogue with overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong in January 2017, Pelaez said that Bertiz shouted at and falsely accused one of their officers of being an illegal migrant after the congressman was “exposed as a recruitment agency owner.”

“He is arrogant and disrespectful even to the people he claims to represent. He is a habitual abuser of authority. That is a totally unacceptable behavior for someone who wants to be addressed as an ‘honorable’ congressman,” she said.

Solon’s confirmation

As a video of the incident appeared on social media, Bertiz confirmed the incident to reporters, saying, “Yes, I lost my temper as shown in the video. But I have since reconciled with [that person].”

To add to his woes, a photo of a letter supposedly issued by ACTS OFW party-list expelling him from the group was also circulating online.

The March 23 notice to Bertiz, signed by “board secretary/director” Corazon Polinag and the group’s chair, Feliciano Adorna Jr., stated that the party-list was also withdrawing its nomination of him as its representative. It also declared him a “persona non grata.”

Bertiz, however, downplayed the notice, claiming that Adorna had been fired from the group over his alleged illegal activities, such as soliciting government projects from lawmakers and money from farmers.

House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez told reporters that “there may be a possibility that we may have to take this up with the ethics committee,” referring to the letter.

Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said she would defer to the decision of Suarez’s group. —WITH A REPORT FROM MARLON RAMOS