AGRI Party-list Rep. Wilbert T. Lee (Rep. Lee's office)

Senatorial aspirant AGRI Party-list Rep. Wilbert T. Lee has apologized to BHW party-list Rep. Angelica Natasha Co. But does this mean she's no longer filing an ethics complaint against him? 

Short answer: Co doesn't know yet. 

"Yung sa ethics [complaint] (About the ethics complaint), I have to ask my colleagues involved as well. There was still the action and it cannot be undone. We shall see pa po," she told House of Representatives reporters on Thursday, Oct. 3. 

A day earlier, the lady solon said she planned on filing an ethics complaint against Lee this week. 

"Yes he did po," Co, an vice chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, said when asked if Lee had indeed apologized to her Thursday. 

"Nagkasabay po kami dito sa filing [sa Comelec]. I asked him to clarify it to the people naman with what his comms team did to me, splicing videos of my face kasi lumabas ako pa ang mali," the BHW Party-list solon shared. 

(We saw each other during the filing at Comelec. I asked him to clarify it to the people with what his comms team did to me, splicing videos of my face because it makes it appear that I'm in the wrong.) 

Co was alluding to the events on the plenary floor last Sept. 25, when an enraged Lee grabbed the mic away from a fellow congressman to assail the House's decision to terminate the discussion on the Department of Health's (DOH) budget, when he still had more to say about it. 

The "colleagues" that Co mentioned Thursday were her fellow appropriations panel vice chairpersons, led by the senior vice chairperson, Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo. 

Co had earlier clarified that the "mic scuffle" wasn't the reason for her wanting to file an ethics complaint against Lee, but what he allegedly did after. 

Co said that she was defending the budget of a certain agency when a visibly fuming Lee approached her and Quimbo at the podium. 

“And then when he approached furiously, dinuro-duro niya kami and then sinabihan niya kami na 'Pag hindi niyo ako pagsalitain, manggugulo ako.' To which Cong Stella, I heard her respond to Cong. Wilbert saying, 'Bakit galit ka sa amin? Sponsor lang kami dito.' Meaning to say, wala po kaming hold kung sino po ang magsasalita o hindi po magsasalita,” Co said. 

(He pointed his finger at us and told us, 'If you don't let me speak, I create trouble here'. To which Cong Stella, I heard her respond to Cong. Wilbert saying, 'Why are you angry at us? We're just the sponsor here.' Meaning to say, we don't have a hold on who should talk or not talk. 

The designated majority leader usually moves to recognize a House member before he or she could speak. 

In one video clip of the plenary proceedings on Sept. 25, a frightened Quimbo was seem "hiding" on one side of the podium from the furious AGRI Party-list solon. 

It was overall a harrowing experience, said Co who said that she even "fainted" near the end of the plenary session after the P6.352-trillion 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) had been approved on third and final reading. 

READ THIS:

https://mb.com.ph/2024/10/1/lady-solon-to-file-ethics-complaint-vs-lee

"Tumayo ako to listen to the Speaker and then while he was speaking, ako po ay nahimatay. Siguro brought about by stress," she recalled. 

( I stood up to listen to the Speaker and then while he was speaking, I fainted. Probably brought about by stress.) 

"It was the first time that it happened to me in the plenary...We were very bothered, I was very bothered personally na ganoon ang nangyari at hindi ko alam saan nanggaling yung galit niya sa amin," Co said of Lee. 

(I was very bothered personally about what transpired and I don't know where his anger at us was coming from.)