After DOLE usec took his phone, Villarin wants House to ban Jing Paras from premises

Akbayan party-list Representative Tom Villarin on Tuesday sought to ban former congressman and now Labor Undersecretary Jacinto "Jing" Paras from entering the premises of the House of Representatives after he filed a theft complaint against him.

Villarin made the plea in his privilege speech a day after he announced the filing of the complaint against the former lawmaker.

"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 told his fellow lawmakers.

"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 have been settled," he added.

Villarin has filed a theft complaint against Paras before the Office of the Prosecutor in Quezon City for allegedly stealing his iPhone X during one of the hearings at the House of Representatives last March.

Paras, however, denied Villarin's allegations against him.

"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.

But Villarin pointed out that if Paras only accidentally took his cellphone, he should have personally talked to him and said sorry.

"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 to 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 said Paras might have had a political motive when he took the phone. He said Paras could have taken information which could be used against him or his party-mate Senator Risa Hontiveros.

Paras in September 2017 filed multiple criminal charges against Hontiveros with the Ombudsman for disclosing his supposed text messages with then-Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II and for exploiting minor witnesses in the probe of Kian delos Santos’ killing.

"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.

"Never mind if the person being violated is a sitting member of the House of Representatives. Never mind if it was done right inside our august chambers, the House of Representatives," he added.

Aside from seeking to ban Paras, Villarin also asked permission from the House to give him a complete video recording of the incident which he would use as evidence in court. —NB, GMA News