Cayetano: ’BTS’ Congress bloc not meant to offend K-Pop fans
MANILA, Philippines — The formation of a new bloc in the House of Representatives, which hailed its name from popular South Korean group BTS, was not meant to offend fans of the boyband, Taguig City-Pateros 1st District Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano said on Wednesday.
Cayetano said “BTS sa Kongreso” only meant “Back to Service Congress,” especially now that the House is more focused on political issues.
“Medyo napunta sa politika, napunta sa kaunting katamaran, napunta sa panay political issues, naging trapo na ulit. Rather than House of the People, naging House of the Politics,” he told reporters in an interview.
(Because the focus went to political issues.)
The new bloc drew ire from fans of the K-pop group, who dub themselves as “Army,” as #CayetanoStopUsingBTS trended on social media.
“It’s not meant to offend the fans,” Cayetano said.
The new bloc is set to meet on Thursday to discuss current issues, such as vaccines.
“So ‘yong (the) meeting tomorrow, is not to form one block. It’s a representing many blocks in the country that are saying that kailangan natin ngayon (what we need now) is BTS – Bayanihan, Tapang, Serbisyo,” he said.
Just like the famous K-pop group, the “BTS sa Kongreso” will have seven members, all of whom lost House leadership posts when Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco took over as Speaker last year.
The members of the new bloc are:
Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano
Camarines Sur 2nd District Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte
Laguna 1st District Rep. Dan Fernandez
Anakalusugan Partylist Rep. Mike Defensor
Bulacan 1st District Rep. Jose Antonio Sy-Alvarado
Capiz 2nd District Rep. Fredenil Castro
Batangas 2nd District Rep. Raneo Abu
Members of the bloc will remain as members of the majority in the House, as they are supportive of President Rodrigo Duterte, Fernandez, who was removed as Deputy Speaker, earlier said.
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