Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales Jr. (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

House Senior Deputy Speaker Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales Jr. gave a rather foreboding message to members of the Senate on Tuesday, Feb. 6 as the exchange of thorny remarks from both legislative chambers continued. 

Gonzales, who led a handful of ranking House of Representatives members in a press briefing Tuesday, made one simple request to senators. 

“Sa mga senador, kung puwede po tigilan na itong personal na paninira sa aming Speaker. Ayaw na po naming lumalim ito," Gonzales said, referring to House Speaker Martin Romualdez. 

(To the senators, please stop the personal attacks against our Speaker. We don't want this to go deeper.) 

"Ayaw na po naming lumalim ang usaping ito. Tigilan na po ninyo ang paninira, ang pangit pakinggan na hindi puwedeng gayahin ng susunod na henerasyon,” said the Pampanga solon, who ranks only second to Romualdez in the House. 

(We don't want this to go deeper. Stop the attacks, it sounds horrible and it shouldn't be emulated by the next generation.) 

The 300-member House has been pursuing the lifting of the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution. The 24-member Senate, on the other hand, seem more concerned with the checks and balances of the process, to the point of inaction.  

Although there has always been a sense of gamesmanship between the two co-equal legislative chambers, rarely has it resulted to accusations of wrongdoing by a top-ranked solon. 

READ THIS:

https://mb.com.ph/2024/2/6/open-cards-tayo-dalipe-asks-24-senators-whether-or-not-they-support-cha-cha

Case in point is the Senator Imee Marcos-led probe regarding the allegations of illicit activities in the recent People’s Initiative (PI), such as the buying of signatures for its accompanying signature drive.  

Senators have accused Romualdez of having a direct hand in the PI, which was supposed to be a purely civilian undertaking. This has been denied by the Speaker and denounced by his House colleagues. 

"Sa inyong lahat, magtrabaho po tayo ng maayos. Marami po tayong problema and as I have said, ayaw na po naming lumalim ito. Tigilan na po ninyo ang paninira sa aming Speaker. Salamat po,” Gonzales said. 

(To all of you, let's just work properly. We have a lot of problems and as I have said, we don't want this to go deeper. Stop attacking our Speaker. Thank you.)