(Eagle News) — Akbayan Party-list Rep. Tom Villarin is slated to file a grave misconduct case against Labor Undersecretary Jing Paras after he allegedly stole the lawmaker’s phone.
Villarin said he would file the case before the Office of the Ombudsman.
“I think that this attitude, this juvenile act of a public official should not be allowed,” Villarin said.
According to Villarin, “filing a case with the Ombudsman would serve also some sort of a deterrent that other officials that are openly anti-opposition, even if they’re holding public office, should be made accountable.”
“I think the evidence against respondent Paras on this issue is very strong,” he said.
Earlier, Villarin filed a theft complaint against Paras after footage from the closed-circuit television camera in the House of Representatives showed him getting the lawmaker’s phone during one of the hearings in March.
But Paras said he only inadvertently got the phone while he was in a hurry to attend another hearing.