FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Agri Partylist Representative Wilbert Lee, Marikina Rep. Stella Quimb, and Rep. Angelica Natasha Co. | PHOTOS: Screenshot from Youtube/House of Representatives, Facebook page of Stella Quimbo, and Office of Natasha Co
MANILA, Philippines — An ethics complaint has been filed against senatorial aspirant and Agri party-list Rep. Wilbert Lee over his reported aggressive actions during the proposed 2025 national budget deliberations.
The case refers particularly to the confrontation between him and two female legislators.
Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo and BHW party-list Rep. Angelica Natasha Co filed the complaint against Lee on Monday.
They submitted documents before the House of Representatives committee on ethics and privileges.
According to Quimbo, she and Co filed the complaint as they felt threatened when Lee aggressively came up to them while they were defending the Department of Health (DOH) budget at the plenary on September 25.
“We jointly filed a complaint before the committee on ethics against Rep. Wilbert Lee for improper conduct during the budget hearing last September 25,” Quimbo revealed.
“So this is the DOH budget hearing. We were subjects of his acts of aggression,” she said.
“From my perspective, his actions, particularly his moving forward with his hand and eye movement — were an attempt to assault,” she narrated.
“My instinct was to duck behind the podium for my own safety. I felt physically threatened. I also saw Rep. Co’s confusion during the situation,” she recalled.
Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo during one of the deliberations in the House of Representatives. (File photo from a video posted on the Facebook page of the House of Representatives)
During the plenary debates on September 25, Lee grabbed headlines as he took the microphone from Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Northern Samar 1st District Rep. Paul Daza.
At that time, Daza was moving to terminate the deliberations since no minority lawmaker wanted to ask questions about DOH’s budget.
READ: Tensions flare at House as Lee grabs mic from Daza during budget talks
However, Co revealed on October 2 that they had urged the House committee on ethics and privileges to investigate Lee’s actions.
The lawmaker said the public only saw Lee take Daza’s microphones and not his threats against her and Quimbo.
According to Co, Lee “aggressively” came up to her and House appropriations panel senior vice chair and Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo, allegedly demanding that he be allowed to speak or else he would stage a commotion.
Courtesy of the office of BHW party-list Rep. Angelica Natasha Co.
READ: House ethics panel urged to probe Wilbert Lee’s act during budget talks
Co further said Quimbo even ducked behind the podium out of fear that Lee might “assault” her.
“He was very, very near us already that we feared his presence. In fact, Cong. Stella went around me, and she ducked behind the podium,” Co said on October 2.
“It was not seen on camera because what can be seen in the camera was like maybe half of me, just my face. So what was happening on my right-hand side cannot be seen,” she went on.
“He was very near me to the point that even I was not sure if I will run because he was very near us. I do not know if he will assault Cong. Stella, and so we were very bothered… I do not know where his anger came from,” she added.
Still no apology
Quimbo said Lee had not apologized to her personally, even two weeks after the incident occurred.
Instead, Quimbo said Lee wrote a letter to the House committee on appropriations chairperson and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co.
“What date is it today? October 14, but this incident happened last September 25? We did not receive any apology,” Quimbo said.
“As far as I know, he has submitted a written letter of apology to Chairman Elizaldy Co as the appropriations committee (head),” she noted.
“He mentioned something about a behavior not warranted, saying that it is because of his sense of duty, and that he is just very passionate about his advocacy of changing DOH and PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance Corporation),” she added.
Quimbo also stressed that, like Lee, she is also an advocate for better PhilHealth performance — the reason Lee cited as why he has been passionate about the topic.
However, Quimbo clarified that one does not have to be violent about it.
“I’m not bragging, but I have been a health economist since 1991. I’ve been also advocating for health sector reforms,” the lawmaker told reporters.
“I was the research assistant for the law that created the PhilHealth, and my PhD dissertation was about PhilHealth. I have many international publications and you can see that at Google Scholar, on PhilHealth,” she said.
“I became a full professor in UP (University of the Philippines) because of my publications on PhilHealth. I became a professorial chair at the Dutch Royal Family because of work on PhilHealth,” she continued.
“So honestly, Rep. Lee and I are not far off in terms of our advocacy. We’re allies here in our sense of duty — but never was it an never an excuse for me to be violent,” she emphasized.
After the incident on September 25, Deputy Majority Leader and Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin proceeded with the motion to terminate the deliberations on the DOH budget.
Then she asked Deputy Speaker Duke Frasco to rule on the motion.
At 6:37 p.m. on September 25, Quimbo, standing behind Co, was seen talking with someone.
After two minutes, Co and lawmakers, including Pangasinan 4th District Rep. Christopher de Venecia, comforted Quimbo, who seemed to be crying.
Co clarified that they were crying not due to deliberations being over, but because of Lee’s actions.
A separate video, which appeared to be taken from inside the House plenary on the same date, is making the rounds online, showing Quimbo ducking behind the podium.
The same movement from Quimbo can be seen during the House livestream, at the 6:30 p.m. mark on the video of the session.
The videos circulating on social media, however, were criticizing Quimbo over another issue.