Akbayan party-list representative Tom Villarin wants Labor Undersecretary Jacinto Paras banned from entering the premises of the House of Representative, citing a recent alleged incident of theft.
In his privilege speech, Villarin sought support from the Lower Chamber to have Paras banned in the House after the latter allegedly stole his iPhone X last March.
“I stand here seeking your support to express our disdain to a very indecent act of a public official which can be a grave misconduct that our Ombudsman can investigate so that he may be served with a preventive suspension,” Villarin said before the members of the House.
“And lastly… I seek your support to have Undersecretary Paras be censured by the House and be banned from entering our premises until full redress of my grievances has been settled,” he added.
CCTV footage taken inside the House of Representatives showed that Paras took Villarin’s phone after the labor official placed his phone on top of Paras’ phone and powerbank.
Paras, for his part, denied Villarin’s allegations but earlier admitted that he may have accidentally taken Villarin’s phone.
“Bakit ko naman nanakawin yung cellphone niya? [Isasangkalan] ko yung buong reputation ko at buhay para manakaw lang yung cellphone niya?” Paras said.
“If I have intention to steal his cellphone, bakit niya narecover at bakit naiwan lang sa Congress? Kung magnanakaw ako, edi inuwi ko yung cellphone niya,” he added referring to the recovery of the phone in one of the rooms in the House.
Villarin, however, said that if Paras indeed took his phone by accident, he should have approached him to apologize.
“I am a forgiving person, Mr. Speaker. If he could have just approached me in contrition from the day he got my phone until yesterday when it came out in the media,” Paras said.
“A decent man would have felt bad [for] himself that even accidentally, he has caused a wrong to another person. But sad to say, Mr. Paras is not a decent man,” he added.
Villarin added that Paras may have a political motive for taking his phone. He added that Paras may want information about him or about his party-mate Senator Risa Hontiveros.
In September 2017, Paras filed a complaint against Hontiveros for disclosing his text message to then-justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II. Paras added that Hontiveros also exploited minor witnesses on Kian delos Santos’ death.
“Now with his admission that indeed this incident is political, it closes the loop why indeed an indecent man has the nerve to steal my cellphone. It confirms my fears about the reason why my privacy is being violated because this indecent person can gain favors with the powers-that-be,” Villarin said.
Villarin has filed theft charges against Paras on Tuesday, May 29.
Aside from his request to ban Paras from the premises of the House, Villarin also requested for a full copy of the CCTV footage to be used against Paras in court.
