This was upon the recommendation made by the ethics committee of the lower house.
During the plenary session on Monday, December 1, the outcome of the ethics complaint against Cavite 4th District Rep. Kiko Barzaga was read out by Rep. JC Abalos of 4Ps party-list.
In which, Barzaga was found guilty of inappropriate behavior for his social media posts, which have gone viral a few months prior.
“His [Barzaga] actions reflected negatively upon the dignity, integrity, and reputation of the House of Representatives as an institution of the members of the House individually and collectively,” Abalos said.
Furthermore, “the respondent’s reckless, offensive, and irresponsible use of his social media platform tarnishes the name, integrity, and reputation of the House of Representatives.”
In line with this, the panel recommended that Barzaga be given a 60-day suspension, with a total of 249 House members voting in favor of the suspension without pay, while 11 abstained, and five were in opposition to the motion.
Throughout the period, Barzaga cannot attend plenary sessions, hearings, and enjoy his office space inside the Batasan Pambansa.
Aside from the suspension, the House also directed Barzaga to remove all 24 social media posts in question within 24 hours.
“After a thorough deliberation on the case, the committee finds that the actions of Rep. Barzaga imposing incendiary social media contents on his Facebook accounts and retaining and failing to remove publicly-viewable inappropriate and indecent photos to be unparliamentary and unbecoming of a House member, taken in their entirety, the actions of Rep. Barzaga bring contempt, discredit, and disrepute to the name of the House,” added Abalos.
The ethics committee then warned that “repetition of similar misconduct will result to a more severe disciplinary action.”
Barzaga, in response to what occurred, said: “I wholeheartedly accept the decision of the committee. But I maintain my stance that President Marcos must be held accountable for his crimes. Too many people have died and too much money was plundered from the Filipino people for us to stand down now.”
His speech was cut after the microphone was turned off.