Quezon 2nd District Rep. David Suarez (Photo from his Facebook page)
MANILA, Philippines — Quezon 2nd District Rep. David Suarez dares the hosts of “Laban Kasama ng Bayan, a Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) program, to name the source who tipped them that House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez supposedly incurred travel expenses amounting to P1.8 billion for just a year.
In an interview on Wednesday — transcripts of which were sent to reporters — Suarez said that he had the documents containing the speaker’s traveling expenses, and it is different from what the SMNI hosts claimed.
On Tuesday, Suarez made a privilege speech asking the House Committee on Legislative Franchises to probe issues hounding the network, after self-proclaimed former rebel Jeffrey Celis said on “Laban Kasama ng Bayan” that Romualdez had incurred a P1.8 billion travel expense for just one year.
“I think it would be [a] prudent decision of the committee to invite the host. And I even impose this challenge on them: name your source, because I have the documents stating how much the House and the Speaker spent on their travels. Regarding your claim of P1.8 billion, I want to know where you sourced that,” Suarez said in Filipino.
“Or was it a number you pulled from the moon and mentioned on television? Because based on the documents that we have, that’s not the truth,” he added.
When asked how much is the actual figure, Suarez said he actually has the document but prefers to release it when SMNI has released its own sources.
“Actually, I do have the documents and I do have the figure, but before I release the docu[meant] — the exact amount — I first want to challenge SMNI and [the] person who released that number. Show me your documents. Show me your data. Inform us who your source is and I will compare it to mine, and there we will find out what the real truth is with regard to this issue,” he said.
During his speech, Suarez said the Committee on Legislative Franchises must exercise its oversight function since House Secretary General Reginald Velasco had already categorically denied the claim — calling it mere “fake news.”
A few minutes after Suarez’s speech, lawmakers in the majority moved to direct the committee to immediately start the probe on Thursday. Deputy Speaker Yasser Alonto Balindong approved the motion, as none of the lawmakers present objected.
This is not the first time that attacks against Romualdez or the House were aired through SMNI.
Last October, after the House decided to remove the confidential funds requested by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), former President Rodrigo Duterte, in his program “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa” called the legislative chamber as “the most rotten government organization.”
Duterte accused Romualdez of distributing pork barrel funds to lawmakers, but Velasco and other ranking House officials maintained that they had no pork barrel since the Supreme Court already made it unconstitutional.
READ: House reps find Duterte’s tirades offensive, a serious attack – secretary general
READ: House party chiefs tell Duterte: Stop the threats
Duterte also launched tirades against ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro, who was advocating for the removal of the confidential funds in the proposed budgets of the OVP and DepEd worth P500 million and P150 million, respectively.
READ: House gives zero confidential funds to OVP, DepEd, DICT, DFA, DA
READ: How House removed, reduced the confidential funds of gov’t agencies
The OVP and DepEd are headed by Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte.