Kabayan Party-list removes Harry Roque as member, representative

The Kabayan Party-list has removed lawyer Harry Roque as its member and representative in Congress.

In a statement on Tuesday, the party-list said its board’s decision was reached after they looked into “several complaints” filed against Roque’s behavior and statements, which they said were made “without the prior approval” of its board of trustees.

It specifically pointed at Roque’s “propounding irrelevant, vulgar, and sexist questions” during a House Justice committee hearing on the proliferation of illegal drugs inside the New Bilibid Prison in November last year.

It said Roque’s behavior there “gravely affected the moral sensibilities” of the party-list’s members and supporters.

“[T]he reputation of Kabayan Party-list as a party engaged in principled advocacies was/is being gravely tarnished,” the statement read. “Serious doubts were cast on the genuineness of Kabayan Party-list on its ability to deliver its core advocacies.”

A copy of the decision were submitted to the offices of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, President Rodrigo Duterte, “and other concerned offices of the government.”

For his part, Roque said his “alleged ouster” violates the party’s constitutions and by-laws, adding that he was only informed about the decision by the media.

“I have received word from our friends in the media that the Kabayan Party-list has sent them copies of a supposed notice of my removal from the party. The fact that the notice of removal was sent to the media but not to me or my office just goes to show that the people behind this plot are after media mileage, not the interest of the party,” he said in a statement.

Roque said he has filed a petition before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) “to compel” Kabayan Party-list to hold a party congress “so that the issue of the rightful leadership of the party can be settled legally.”

“I can confidently say that I have the support of the various sectors that make up the party as well as the duly constituted Executive Board,” he added. — RSJ, GMA News