Taguig 2nd district Rep. Pammy Zamora and 1-Rider Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez have criticized their House colleague for filing charges against Speaker Martin Romualdez over the supposed controversies surrounding the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Zamora on Monday, Feb. 11, said that Davao del Norte 1st district Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez has neither the legal nor moral right to file graft charges against Romualdez since he neither registered his complaint nor allegations during the approval of the budget measure.

Alvarez led the filing of criminal charges against the House Speaker before the Office of the Ombudsman for falsification of legislative documents after allegedly inserting P124 billion budget in the "blank spaces" of the approved 2025 budget.

As a sitting member of the House, Alvarez had every opportunity to raise these concerns during the budget deliberations and approval, according to Zamora. But he did not, she added.

“It’s very ironic that Mr. Alvarez barely participated in the non-stop budget hearings that we’ve had for the 2025 budget, whether sa (in the) committee level or sa (in the) plenary. Wala naman siyang ni-raise na concern (But he did not raise any concern),” she said.

Meanwhile, Gutierrez says that while everyone is welcome and has the right to seek redress, he questioned the timing and venue of Alvarez' complaint.

He said that if the issue is genuinely about the law, it should have been raised earlier or filed before the Supreme Court (SC).

It should have also been filed before the SC for clarification, and not before the Office of the Ombudsman.

"It’s just really questionable po personally without going into the context na may prior redress naman po in the House na hindi naman po naitanong (that there is a prior redress without asking it in the House),” Gutierrez noted.

Zamora and Gutierrez also questioned the propriety of the graft charges filed, and asked why no senator-member of the bicam was included in the charge sheet.

“The Speaker isn’t even part of the Bicam. So, sana po nilinaw po nila yung kinasuhan nila. Kung tungkol talaga sa bicam ang kanilang kaso, hindi po parte ng bicam ang Speaker (So, we hope they clarified who their respondents were. If the charge is against the bicam, the Speaker should not have been included),” Zamora explained.

Gutierrez questioned the selective targeting of House members, noting, "if you also look at the cast of characters, bakit… yung House lang po yung respondents (why it's only House members who are respondents)."

“These are just some questions that I think siguro dapat maitanong ng taongbayan (should have been asked by the public) in relation to the context of the filing of that case,” Gutierrez added.