Solon’s ‘monthly period’ excuse irks colleagues

FOR THE NTH TIMEACTS OFW Rep. Aniceto Bertiz III: I’m again asking for your forgiveness. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

A day after he issued a public apology, ACTS OFW Rep. Aniceto Bertiz III found himself saying sorry once again, this time for equating his behavior toward an airport screening officer to a woman having her “monthly period.”

The party-list lawmaker on Tuesday owned up to his latest blunder and apologized anew for stirring up a hornet’s nest.

“That was very stupid [of me]. To all the women, I’m again asking for your forgiveness,” Bertiz said. “That has been my dialogue with my wife whenever we have disagreements. [I would ask her], ‘Do you have your monthly period?’”

On Monday, Bertiz publicly apologized for accosting and confiscating the ID of a security officer who had asked him to remove his shoes before passing through a metal detector at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 2.

A video of the incident went viral on social media over the weekend, earning the lawmaker the ire of netizens.

Asked to explain his actions, Bertiz told reporters on Monday that “for the past three years that I have been a member of Congress, once a year, I have my ‘monthly period.’”

While he apparently made the remark in jest, it did not sit well with women’s rights advocates.

Insult to women

“The issue here is his arrogance. Women should not be stereotyped as arrogant and entitled during their menstrual period,” Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus said in a statement.

Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin expressed a similar sentiment, saying Bertiz should just own up to his mistakes without passing the blame on to others.

“If that’s his reason, I think his apology is not sincere because you cannot relate ‘monthly period’ with his behavior which, in the first place, was really uncalled for and disrespectful to women,” Villarin told the Inquirer.

“A woman’s menstrual period is a natural process and it’s demeaning to women when you compare your rude behavior to a monthly period,” he said. “While women may get angry when they have [their] menstruation, they do it in a dignified manner.”

The House ethics committee said it would hold a special meeting on Wednesday to start its investigation of the Sept. 29 incident at Naia.

Amid calls to replace Bertiz as a party-list nominee, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said the matter was no longer under its jurisdiction.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez explained that it was up to the group to determine who would represent it in Congress.

“In most cases, it is an internal matter and already out of Comelec’s jurisdiction,” he said on Twitter.

Former Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the same thing, saying ACTS OFW needed only to inform the poll body of its choice of Bertiz’s replacement.

Nominee’s OK needed

“In this procedure, aside from the party-list removing the nominee by board resolution, the nominee himself has to agree to the replacement and withdraw as representative of the partylist,” he added.

However, it has to be done in writing and submitted to the poll body, Larrazabal said.

Earlier, a March 23 notice to Bertiz, signed by ACTS OFW board secretary/director Corazon Polinag and chair Feliciano Adorna Jr., circulated online. It informed him that the group was withdrawing his nomination as its representative.

But Bertiz downplayed the notice, claiming Adorna had been fired from the group over alleged illegal activities. —With a report from Tina G. Santos