Group claims solon used office for cosmetic procedures

The House of Representatives is not a beauty salon.

An anticorruption group said this on Wednesday as it brought an ethics complaint against Mata Rep. Tricia Velasco-Catera for allegedly using her office in the legislative building in Quezon City to undergo cosmetic procedures.

The Pinoy Aksyon for Governance and Environment also accused Catera, daughter of retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., of using cosmetic drugs which were not approved by the Food and Drugs Administration.

Worse, it said Catera received glutathione drips, a skin-whitening product, in her office as shown by photos that the lawmaker herself had posted on her social media account.

“One’s office cannot be considered a medical clinic,” Pinoy Aksyon chair BenCy Ellorin said in his complaint.

The Inquirer sought Catera’s comment, but a member of her staff said the lawmaker was not in her office. —Marlon Ramos