“With all due respect…it is just the start of the Women’s Month, and I don’t think that we should be hearing such comments from our dear colleagues,” San Juan Rep. Ysabel Maria “Bel” Zamora said.

Quezon City Rep. Jesus Manuel ‘Bong’ Suntay speaks during the House on committee on justice’s hearing on the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday, March 3, 2026.

A senior opposition lawmaker was censured by his colleagues in the committee on justice on Tuesday, March 3, over remarks he made as he tried to oppose the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte, which were being checked for sufficiency in substance.

Members of the committee led by Rep. Gerville Luistro (Batangas second district) voted 13-2, with two abstentions, to “delete” a statement made by fourth district Quezon City Rep. Jesus Manuel “Bong” Suntay comparing Duterte’s calling herself a “designated survivor” with his feeling a sudden urge for actress Anne Curtis when he saw her at the Shangri-la Hotel.

“Let us be reminded that it is the majority that rules in this committee. It is offensive to our morality and I think the majority has ruled already,” Luistro declared after Suntay spoke to defend his remarks. “The committee has already decided to delete it,” Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong reminded Suntay.

But Suntay – a perceived ally of Duterte – argued passionately that there was nothing wrong with his expressing “desire” for Curtis when he saw her in person.

“There is nothing sexual doon sa sinabi ko, nothing immoral. It’s just, I said, may na-imagine ako, I think there is nothing wrong,” the veteran legislator said.

“I think we are starting a dangerous precedent, because now we are censuring manifestations which is neither illegal nor immoral. So imagine, we are conducting a hearing, but now statements which are neither immoral nor illegal can be stricken out of the record without any reason?” he insisted.

He said he was just trying to compare what Duterte must have been thinking in July 2024 when she talked about appointing herself as “designated survivor” with what was racing in his mind when he saw Curtis for the first time – they were both just imagining.

“You know I felt desire inside. Nag-init talaga. I imagined what could happen, but of course it was just my imagination,” he told the committee in Filipino.

“Of course I can never be sued for just imagining,” he said.

As far as he is concerned, Duterte may just be trying to make journalists laugh, as it might be another joke.

“As (congressman) Rufus (Rodriguez) said, you know the statement being designated survivor, it’s not illegal, it’s not criminal. In fact, it’s a process in the US, mere utterance lang. I’m designating myself,” he said. “That can’t be. Can you designate yourself without a process?”

Rep. Ysabel Maria “Bel” Zamora (San Juan), vice chairperson of the justice committee, immediately moved to have Suntay’s “statements stricken of the record.” “Madam chair, I move to strike those statements from the record,” she requested Luistro.

“With all due respect to my friend Congressman Suntay, it is just the start of the Women’s Month, and I don’t think that we should be hearing such comments from our dear colleagues,” Zamora said.

“We’re not censuring anything, but we are reminding them that in fact, we should support women by not saying these statements,” she added. “Next week, I’ll be attending a conference on the commission – the 70th Commission on the Status of Women,” she said.

“And this is about removing structural barriers to women’s empowerment. And things like this do not empower women,” Zamora emphasized.

She was also joined by Rep. Benny Abante (Manila sixth district), who is a preacher-legislator and who heads the House committee on human rights. “Nevertheless, Madam Chair I want that deleted from the record.”

“The chair would like to state that if the manifestation of the justice member offends the sensitivity of the justice members, then it means we are crossing the boundaries already. After all, we rule here by the judgment of the justice members,” Luistro declared.