Roque to party-list group: You cannot oust me

Kabalikat ng Mamamayan (Kabayan) Party-list Rep. Harry Roque INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Kabayan Partylist’s Harry Roque said on Tuesday that his group cannot oust him for supposedly asking “sexually charged” questions about Senator Leila de Lima’s love affair at a Congress hearing on the Bilibid illegal drug trade.

“Ang tanging paraan lamang na ako matatanggal ay kung ako ay magreresign, mamatay, o kung ako ay mai-expel ng Kamara,” he added.

(The only way for me to be removed from the post is if I resign, if I die, or if I am expelled by the House of Representatives.)

Roque said his party-list cannot remove him from office because of a previous decision by the Supreme Court supposedly ruling that a representative cannot be removed by his party once he is proclaimed.

READ: Party-list solon faces ouster for ‘sexually charged’ questions

Kabayan party-list senior member and spiritual adviser Pastor Cesar Pabuayon earlier said they will recommend appropriate penalties regarding Roque’s conduct after their group received messages from members and supporters “who were mortified by Roque’s actions.”

Among the comments that Roque said during the hearing with De Lima’s former aide and lover Ronnie Dayan was, “You seem very fond of caressing.”

Roque instead suggested the ouster of his fellow Kabayan Partylist Rep. Ron Salo, as the latter is facing charges for the controversial P3.8-billion license plate deal under the Aquino administration.

Roque accused Salo of being behind the move to oust him.

“Tao po ang naghalal sa akin, hindi po ako matatanggal ng mga taong nakasuhan na ng estafa at dapat kasuhan pa ng plunder,” he said.

(It is the people who appointed me, I will not be removed by people charged with estafa and who should also be charged with plunder.) JE/rga