Lawmaker wants Polish envoy declared persona non grata

SAN ANTONIO, Zambales, Philippines — Rep. Cheryl Deloso-Montalla of Zambales filed a resolution in the House on Monday seeking to declare an official of the Embassy of Poland in Manila as persona non grata after reportedly insulting Filipinos.

In House Resolution No. 1559, Montalla said Vice Consul Bartosz Wozniczko uttered discriminatory statements against Filipinos after police flagged his car, which was reportedly involved in a hit-and-run incident on Feb. 6.

“Wozniczko willfully, maliciously and feloniously evaded arrest” by policemen in Candeleria town, Montalla said in the resolution.

Police said a black KIA Grand Carnival driven by Wozniczko hit a motorcycle driven by Eugene Nacar, 21, a resident of Iba town.

As a result Nacar and his passenger, identified as Dana Michaela Urbano, 22, sustained injuries and were taken to Candelaria District Hospital.

Wozniczko tried to escape but was intercepted by policemen at a checkpoint in nearby Masinloc town at 3:50 p.m. that day.

Montalla said she asked her legal team to assist the victims and respond to the scene but Wozniczko showed his identification card and “arrogantly insisted that he is above the law.”

“Wozniczko pompously asserted that he has diplomatic immunity,” Montalla said.

She said her legal team tried to get Wozniczko to agree to a compromise deal by shouldering the hospital expenses of his victims.

“Instead, [Wozniczko] arrogantly and abrasively told them that he will only go as far as paying a measly sum of P10,000 because ‘they are poor, anyway,’” Montalla said.

—With reports from Joanna Rose Aglibot and Julie M. Aurelio