Rep. Teves upset for being muted during House hearing
MANILA, Philippines — Negros Oriental 3rd District Representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. on Monday complained that he was muted and his attendance was not mentioned during a House hearing.
Teves is among the interpellator of the House Committee of Appropriations hearings on the budget of the Department of Agriculture and National Irrigation Administration.
Marikina 2nd District Representative Stella Quimbo, who serves as the committee’s vice chairperson, recognized Teves’ point of order, to which Teves said: “I am muted by the host.”
“Ganito lang, ‘pag may priority motion, dapat hindi mini-mute ng host dahil bastos ang ganon eh. Para tayong bumalik sa panahon ni Cayetano, diba noong nagreklamo ako,” Teves said, referring to former House Speaker and now Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.
(Whenever there’s a priority motion, the host should not mute it because that is rude. It’s as if we returned to the time of Cayetano; the same thing happened after I complained.)
Teves was referring to the incident in 2020 when he was muted during the vote on the offer of Cayetano to resign amid the speakership row in the lower chamber.
READ: Teves presents video showing he was muted during vote on Cayetano’s resignation offer
“I raised a priority motion which is a point of order because hindi binasa ang pangalan ko sa attendees (my name was not mentioned as an attendee), and I am number four with the interpellator,” Teves said.
“Anong magiging itsura ko sa mga kasamahan natin na wala ako sa attendance, sabay number 4 ako sa interpellators? Request ko lang sana sa lahat ng deliberasyon natin i-respeto natin ang parliamentary procedures na tama. Ang priority motion is a priority motion which should be recognized,” he added.
(What would our colleagues think of me if I was not included in the attendance, but I’m the number four interpellator? I request that we respect the parliamentary procedures during deliberation. A priority motion is a priority motion that should be recognized.)
To this, Quimbo apologized while recognizing Teves’ “magnetic presence.”
“Salamat sir, we apologize for that, sir. Just to explain, we have periodic cutoffs for attendance checking, and so you actually logged on after the very first cut-off, so mare-recognize naman po kayo (you will be recognized), sir,” Quimbo said.
“We acknowledge your very magnetic presence, sir. Good morning po sayo (to you),” she added.
READ: Lawmaker wants ‘ghosting’ declared an emotional offense
