Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. expressed dismay at the House Committee on Appropriations panel after knowing he was being muted and not acknowledged during a budget deliberation on Monday.
Teves, one of the interpolators of the appropriations committee hearings on the Department of Agriculture and National Irrigation Administration budget attending a Zoom, raised a point of order as his name was not mentioned in the attendance.
Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, the vice chairperson of the committee, meanwhile, acknowledged Teves' point of order, to which the latter said that he was muted by the host.
He was referring to the same experience he had in 2020 when he was muted during the offer to vote on the proposal of then House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to resign to give way to Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, who also served as Speaker in the 18th Congress.
"I raised a priority motion which is a point of order because hindi binasa ang pangalan ko sa attendees (my name was not mentioned as an attendee), and I am number four with the interpellator," Teves said.
"What face will I show to our colleagues if I'm not listed in the attendance and yet I'm number four among the priority interpolators," the former deputy speaker said.
Then he requested the panel to respect the parliamentary procedures during the deliberation.
"A priority motion is a priority motion that should be recognized," Teves said.
Quimbo on the other hand, apologized to Teves and explained to what happened.
"We apologize for that sir. Just to explain, we have periodic cut-offs for attendance-checking and so you logged on after the very first cut-off, so mare-recognize naman po kayo," the economist-lawmaker said.
