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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Pastor-solon Abante nearly curses on camera in House probe on vloggers, trolls

Pastor-solon Abante nearly curses on camera in House probe on vloggers, trolls

Published Feb 4, 2025 04:44 am

At A Glance

  • Pastor-congressman Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido "Benny" Abante Jr. got so worked up during the public hearing of the House tri-committee (tri-comm) Tuesday, Feb. 4 that he nearly cursed on camera.

509C0890-98FB-4E38-9596-8F4EDE8EA6CA.jpegManila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr (PPAB)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pastor-congressman Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido "Benny" Abante Jr. got so worked up during the public hearing of the House tri-committee (tri-comm) Tuesday, Feb. 4 that he nearly cursed on camera.

What caught Abante's ire was the non-attendance of most of the invited social media personalities invited the tri-comm hearing, which tackled the prevalence of fake news as well as online attacks and harassment from trolls and malicious vloggers.

In particular, one Elizabeth JoJoie Cruz no-showed the proceedings much to the veteran solon's displeasure.

In a manifestation, Abante--one of the co-chairmen of the vaunted quad-committee (quad-comm)--cited a social media post from Cruz wherein she accused the former of harboring drug personalities.

Understandably, Abante wanted to personally face Cruz.

"Nakikinig po satin ngayon yan, nanonood ngayon. Humarap ka dito kung matapang ka. Hirap sayo eh, nagmumura ka dyan na wala kaming kalaban-laban. Humarap ka dito, dito," said the fuming Abante.

(She's listening to us right now, she's watching now. Face us here if you're brave. The problem with you is you curse us and we can't do anything about it. Face us here, here.)

"Ah--namo," he added, catching his House colleagues off-guard. It basically translates to "Your mother."

Tri-comm overall chairman, Santa Rosa City lone district Rep. Dan Fernandez reacted to this by saying, "Please observe decency...I feel your sentiment...I respect your freedom of expression."

Abante said that Cruz wrote the following in a Nov. 3, 2024 post: "Si Benny Abante at si Rommel Marbil ay mga protektor ng iligal na droga dahil pilit nilang pinapalabas na hindi ito ganun kasama."

(Benny Abante and [Philippine National Police Chief] Rommel Marbil are protectors of illegal drugs because they're making it appear that drugs aren't that bad.)

"Matindi po itong mga akusasyon na ibinigay nitong...gusto ko na magmura eh. Hindi nako magmumura muna," Abante said.

(This is a serious accusation from this...I want to curse already. But I won't, for now.)

Taguig 2nd district Rep. Pammy Zamora moved to strict out Abante's utterance of "namo" from the record.

At first, Abante objected to the motion and argued that "It's not actually an expletive," since he didn't say anything offensive.

He would later withdraw his objection, and noted that he considers Zamora as "like her daughter".

Abante rejected the contents of Cruz's excuse letter, which the latter sent to the special three-way panel.

"Gusto ko lang pong banggitin yung kanyang excuse letter. 'After meaningful consultation with my lawyer--oh gumaya pa ng abogado--I have decided to respectfully decline--Respectfully? Minumura tayo, respectfully?--to share my knowledge on matters,'" he said.

(I just want to read her excuse letter. 'After meaningful consultation with my lawyer--oh she tapped a lawyer like the others--I have decided to respectfully decline--Respectfully? We're being cursed, respectfully?--to share my knowledge on matters.)

"Hindi knowledge ang kailangan natin. Ask the lawyers kung libelous yung ginawa niyo or slander," he said.

(We don't need knowledge. Ask the lawyers if what you did was libelous or slanderous.)

Related Tags

expletives Bienvenido benny Abante jr. Trolls Tri-comm dan fernandez
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