House Deputy Speaker Antipolo City 1st district Rep. Ronaldo "Ronnie" Puno has confirmed that the ethics complaint filed against Cavite 4th district Rep. Francisco "Kiko" Barzaga is moving forward.

In a chance interview with reporters Friday, Oct. 10, Puno said that the Committee on Ethics and Privileges will hold a hearing on the complaint against the self-proclaimed "congressmeow" next week.

"Mayroon hearing on Monday (Oct. 13), yung fi-nile namin na complaint against him (There's a hearing on Monday regarding the complaint that we filed against him)," Puno shared. He was referring to the ethics complaint against Barzaga that he and the rest of the National Unity Party (NUP) vowed to pursue weeks ago.

"Nagpadala na rin sila ng depensa nila no (And they've already submitted a defense)," Puno said of the Barzaga camp. He said the Dasmariñas City solon mostly cited "freedom of speech" to justify his rather eccentric antics in plenary and controversial social media posts.

"When you enter the House of Representatives, you are expected to hold yourself to a certain level of behavior. And kung walang ganun, eh di wala na, magkakagulo na lang tayo dito (If we don't have that then there will be chaos here)," Puno said.

He opined that Barzaga's defense simply won't cut it before the House ethics panel, due to its very nature.

"Alam mo, ang ethics and [privileges] committee, hindi criminal court. It is a vehicle for the House to protect itself against misbehavior by its members. So hindi siya makukulong kung ma-guilty siya sa ethics committee. Maybe may reprimand, pagsabihan, ganyan."

(You know, the ethics and privileges committee is not a criminal court. It is a vehicle for the House to protect itself against misbehavior by its members. So he won't be imprisoned if he is found guilty by the ethics committee. Maybe there will be a reprimand, a warning, something like that.)

But the point is that people have different expectations from an ordinary citizen versus and elected congressman.

"Actually karapatan niya yun as a citizen. Pero hindi yun ang behavior na ineexpect from a congressman. Iba ang expectation from an average citizen kaya iba yung rights of an average citizen, which is freedom of speech, ganun," he noted.

(Actually, that’s his right as a citizen. But that’s not the kind of behavior expected from a congressman. The expectations for an average citizen are different, so the rights of an average citizen are also different, which is freedom of speech, and the like.)

"We are expected to act with a minimum level of decorum and with respect to our peers. Kung wala yun (If that’s absent) then we have to seek redress and that’s what we are doing now," Puno explained.

The House leader also frowned upon Barzaga's latest stunts, which involved vlogging in plenary and arbitrarily "interviewing" fellow solons. One of Barzaga's "victims" was Majority Leader Ilocos Norte 1st district Rep. Sandro Marcos.

"Di naman siguro tama yun (I don’t think that's right)," said Puno, who added that congressmen that Barzaga talked to on camera didn't expect to be placed in public domain.

The cat-loving solon is a former member of the NUP. 4Ps Party-list Rep. JC Abalos chairs the ethics committee.