Negros Oriental 3rd district Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. (Facebook)

Wednesday, Aug. 16 was the last time in the 19th Congress that Negros Oriental 3rd district Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. can call himself a congressman. 

The House of Representatives voted 265-0-3 (yes-no-abstain) to expel one of its own, Teves, during plenary session Wednesday on the strength of a 18-page report from the Committee of Ethics and Privileges that detailed his offenses--from his expired travel authority to his near-naked, gyrating dance moves on social media. 

Teves' expulsion came as his third--and final--penalty from the House after being slapped with two 60-day suspensions. He had also been removed from his committee memberships. 

"After a thorough discussion of the matter taking into consideration fairness and due regard by giving due notice to the respondent and on the basis of substantial evidence acquired by the Committee on Ethics and Privileges, this committee, by unanimous vote of its members, hereby recommends to the House of Representatives the imposition of a penalty of expulsion from the House of Representatives  upon Rep. Arnolfo 'Arnie' A. Teves Jr.," COOP NATCCO Party-list Rep. Felimon Espares said in plenary, reading from committee report no.717. 

It was the same panel that recommended the two previous suspensions against Teves. Like the two previous penalties, the expulsion recommendation needed a two-thirds vote in plenary for it to be carried. 

A total of 311 House members responded to the roll call at the start of Wednesday's session, with Teves the only one marked absent. 

House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the leader of the chamber, presided over the session. Majority Leader and Zamboanga City 2nd district Rep. Mannix Dalipe made the motion to put the committee's recommendation for nominal voting.

Teves left the Philippines for the United States (US) on Feb. 28, 2023. His travel authority from the House leadership expired on March 9. 

On March 4, Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo was gunned down and killed in broad daylight outside his home. Teves, after being tagged as the alleged mastermind in the killing, has vehemently refused to come home.
 

'Dancing in undergarments' 

The Espares panel seemingly held nothing back in justifying Teves' expulsion as it even brought up the controversial solon's social media shenanigans. 

"The Committee took note of the conduct of Rep. A. Teves Jr. as he was seen dancing in a social media post featured by a news channel in Youtube on 06 June 2023. In the news report featuring a video clip, Rep. A. Teves Jr. was seen dancing in undergarments after explaining that this is the new training of terrorists," read the committee report, which branded the dancing as "indecent behavior". 

But the committee also cited as grounds Teves' continued absence without official leave from House duties and his repeated attempts to seek political asylum in Timor-Leste, which were comparatively graver offenses. 

"Teves Jr.’s  continuous absence in the House of Representatives, taken together with his continuous pursuit of his application for political asylum in Timor-Leste, effectively shows intent to abandon his public office undermining public service," the committee report read. 

It underscored that Teves, a former deputy speaker, was not being prosecuted for political crimes "and thus, not qualified for political asylum. More so that he cannot be considered as a stateless person or even a refugee." 

"Moreover, his act of seeking asylum in another jurisdiction, despite being denied twice, places in question the sacred oath he took to faithfully discharge the duties of a representative and to support, defend and bear allegiance to the Philippine government. His persistence in appealing the denial of his asylum application effectively manifests his intent to relinquish his seat as a representative of a congressional district and terminate his duties as a public servant," it further read. 

The ethics panel further said that the attempts to seek political asylum in the Southeast Asian country "shows his (Teves) distrust in the legal system and the government of the Philippines, tarnishing not only the integrity and reputation of the House of Representatives but of the Philippine government.".

Terrorist-tagging, abstentions 

The ethics panel also brought up in its committee report the Anti-Terrorism Council's (ATC) designation of Teves as a terrorist last Aug. 1. 

This mention of terrorist-tagging was cited as reason by Makabayan members ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel for their abstention from the vote. 

At any rate, Espares assured the House members that the ATC ruling wasn't used as basis for their recommendation to expel Teves. 

"Mr. Speaker, I reiterated a while ago that the designation of the ATC for our colleague [was] not a basis for our recommendation...the designation alone would not suffice as our basis for this recommendation," Espares said on floor.

Castro, Brosas, and Manuel are members of the House minority bloc. 

Deputy Minority Leader and Basilan lone district Rep. Mujiv Hataman would later tell reporters that he skipped the vote, meaning he did not participate, also because of the committee report's mention of the ATC ruling.