MANILA, Philippines — Cavite 7th District Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday bared that he has complained before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) over alleged “cyberbullying” against members of the House of Representatives amid hearings on media giant ABS-CBN’s bid for a 25-year franchise.
During the joint hearing of the House committee on legislative franchises and committee on good government and public accountability, Remulla claimed that some people “have employed troll farms to get to our organization.”
“I’d like to tell the committee that today, after my experience over the past 10 days or the past six days of being the subject of many organized attacks on social media, I have gone to the NBI to complain about the cyberbullying to my person and to other members of the House,” Remulla said.
“Apparently, some people have employed troll farms to get to our organization. It goes without saying that most of us have an experience here about how these trolls are operating now,” the lawmaker said.
Remulla explained that the hearings on issues lodged against ABS-CBN are only being done as it is the constitutional mandate of Congress.
“I thought this wise because we are doing our job for this country, we are not doing this job for personal reason. This matter of scrutinizing a constitutional franchise, this franchise of ABS-CBN, is a constitutional duty. Ito ay aming tungkulin sa ilalim ng Saligang Batas na tingnan ang bagay na ito,” Remulla said.
Remulla has been criticized on social media after he was caught writing a note while the national anthem was playing before one of the ABS-CBN franchise hearings.
The lawmaker has apologized for his action but hit “ABS-CBN people” for supposedly “playing it up now on social media.”