Senior Deputy Majority Leader Iloilo 3rd district Rep. Lorenz Defensor's cool and collected demeanor served as the perfect foil to Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste's fiery and at times intimidating remarks in House plenary on Monday, May 11.

Leviste, a neophyte congressman, stood up Monday afternoon to join the debate on the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte.

Leviste, in his usual showy style, asked the House leadership if it was true that those who would vote in favor of impeaching Vice President Duterte would receive P20 million.

“It should at least be fair that everyone who votes gets P20 million, and those who do not vote, hopefully should also be given that, because this is taxpayers' money and should not be allocated on the basis of your vote on the impeachment,” Leviste said, as if there was already confirmation on the bribe rumor.

To this, the more seasoned Defensor simply said: “Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the House, we categorically deny any such allegations."

Earlier, Defensor and the sponsor of the articles of impeachment, Committee on Justice Chairperson Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro, placed Leviste in check after he delved into other topics not relevant to the impeachment.

"Would you support the House resuming the flood control investigations?" Leviste asked Luistro.

"In our response to the mandate of transparency and accountability," Luistro replied, "We have to distinguish between an impeachable official and a non-impeachable official."

"I'm asking for your personal position on this," interjected Leviste, but his province-mate continued the pace of her answer.

"For [an] impeachable official, Mr. Speaker, we follow the rules of impeachment both of the House of Representatives and of the Senate. For [a] non-impeachable official, it will depend on the nature of investigation or case which then gentleman from the first district of Bayanihan wishes to initiate.

"Nevertheless, Mr. Speaker, there is proper forum, there [are] proper rules that apply to every remedy that is given to the Filipino people," Luistro said.

When Leviste reiterated his question in a raised voice, Defensor calmly intervened and said, "While I understand the concern of the honorable Leviste to pursue accountability in all matters involving Congress and the government itself, may I request that the gentleman from Batangas not to stray from our deliberations."

"So the House does not want to make a statement today on whether it wishes to resume the flood control investigations?" Leviste asked.

"Mr. Speaker, we will not make any statement outside our deliberations on the impeachment complaints," Defensor said, with even more gravitas this time.

As for his last point, a fuming Leviste asked, "For the sake of the other members of Congress, is it true or not true that those who will vote against the impeachment will lose benefits for their vote? So that before we cast our votes, we will know if doing so will result in us losing our benefits or not.

To this, the Iloilo solon said: "Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the House, we categorically deny any such allegations and we would like to thank the Honorable Legarda for his pursuit of accountability and transparency."

In the end, House overwhelmingly adopted the articles of impeachment against Duterte nominal vote result of 257-25-9 (yes-no-abstain). Leviste voted "no".