The House of Representatives on Wednesday ordered a formal ethics investigation into controversial remarks made by Quezon City 4th District Rep. Jesus Suntay during a committee hearing on the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte, after lawmakers condemned the statements as disrespectful toward women.
The plenary action came after House Committee on Women and Gender Equality Chair Ann Matibag of Laguna, in her privilege speech condemning Suntay’s remarks, called for the matter to be referred to the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges.
Assistant Majority Leader Ysabel Maria Zamora, vice chair of the House Committee on Women and Gender Equality and representative of San Juan, subsequently moved on the floor to formally refer the speech to the ethics panel.
Deputy Speaker Janette Garin, who presided over the session, asked if there were objections. Hearing none, she declared the motion approved and formally referred the matter to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges.
Zamora then moved to authorize the committee to convene a hearing to assess Suntay’s actuations and statements in relation to Matibag’s question of privilege, require the Quezon City lawmaker to appear before the panel, and immediately report its findings and recommendations to the plenary. The motion was again approved without objection.
“I move to authorize the Committee on Ethics and Privileges to schedule a meeting to first conduct a thorough assessment of the actuations and statements of Representative Jesus Bong C. Suntay relative to the question of privilege of Representative Ann Matibag. Second, to require Representative Suntay to appear at the hearing of the committee. Third, to immediately report to the House its findings and recommendations after the scheduled hearing,” Zamora said.
The controversy stemmed from Tuesday’s hearing of the House Committee on Justice on the impeachment complaints against Duterte.
During the hearing, Suntay, while defending the Vice President from allegations that she threatened to have President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and other officials assassinated, used an analogy involving actress Anne Curtis to argue that imagination alone should not be treated as a real act in determining legal liability.
Recounting an encounter at a shopping mall, he said he felt a surge of desire upon seeing the actress and imagined what might happen, but stressed that such thoughts existed only in his imagination and could not be the basis of legal liability.
The remark immediately drew objections from lawmakers, prompting Zamora, a vice chair of the Justice panel, to move that the statement be stricken from the record.
Suntay acknowledged that he “deserves the backlash” following an ethics complaint filed against him for his lewd remarks.
“I apologize to the people I offended. That analogy should not have been made. If people want to judge my character based on one statement and forget everything I have done in public service since 1998, then I cannot fault them,” Suntay said.
“That mistake has been made. I acknowledge the backlash. I deserve the backlash,” he added.
The controversy stemmed from Tuesday’s hearing of the House Committee on Justice on the impeachment complaints against Vice President Duterte.
While defending the Vice President from allegations that she threatened to have President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and other officials assassinated, Suntay used an analogy involving the actress to argue that imagination alone should not be treated as a real act in determining legal liability.
In later television interviews after the controversy sparked a social media firestorm, Suntay explained that what he shared was a “fictitious situation.” He disclosed that he neither met nor saw Curtis in person.
“I’ve never seen her in person. I’ve seen her on TV. It was a fictitious situation that I made up,” Suntay told broadcast journalist Karen Davila over ANC on Thursday, referring to his earlier claim that he saw her in a mall.
He acknowledged that mentioning the actress’ name during his manifestation was a “mistake,” explaining that it was prompted by a stream of consciousness on his part.
Suntay also welcomed the ethics complaint filed against him.
“If they want to file an ethics complaint, if they want to judge me, the person that I am, based on one particular statement, I respect it,” he said.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline: “House orders ethics probe into Suntay’s remarks vs. women”
