Senator Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay on Friday, February 9, said her wish for Chinese New Year is for some members of the House of Representatives to put a stop to parliamentary bullying.

Binay made the appeal to colleagues at the House to forego engaging in unpleasantries and regressive civility to diminish and humiliate the Senate in defense of Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva who became a subject of a harsh criticism by a member of the House leadership.

“Sad to say, the behavior of some of our colleagues in Congress has fallen too far below the standard which the public expect from members of the legislature,” Binay said in a statement.

“The bullying, the absurd spats, the unnecessary remarks have brought shame on both houses of Congress,” she lamented.

“It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that politics bring out the worst in us. Di naman konstitusyon ang problema. Kadalasan, mga politiko mismo ang problema (Most of the time, it’s the politicians are the problem)," she pointed out.

Binay said she believes lawmakers can uphold to the highest standards of integrity and trust despite their differences in political views.

“We need to take a good long hard look at ourselves if we are indeed spotless or walking the halls of congress with our dirty feet. It is downright shameful to see members of Congress denigrating themselves by allowing juvenile instincts to overtake their more rational judgments, and abusing free speech for slander,” she said.

Furthermore, the senator said “parliamentary bullying” has become toxic and continues to betray the trust of the people.

“The people don't want serial bullies in government. Ang gusto ng tao yung matino at maayos na paggogobyerno (the people want an orderly and systematic government). We owe them that," the senator noted.

Both the Senate and the House have been at loggerheads over the ongoing debates on Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 which is seeks to amend the economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution.

Senators have also openly dared several House lawmakers to come clean over their involvement in the suspended People's Initiative (PI) signature campaign to change the Constitution.