Partido Manggagawa: Ang Probinsyano rep should quit for trying to punch waiter

MANILA, Philippines — Rep. Alfred de los Santos (Ang Probinsyano party-list) should resign if he is truly sorry for trying to punch a waiter at a restaurant in Albay, Partido Manggagawa said Friday.

Delos Santos—who was seen on CCTV video hitting Christian Kent Alejo, a 20-year-old waiter at a restaurant in Legazpi City—has already apologized for his behavior and said he should have controlled his emotions. Delos Santos stressed he is not a bully or a troublemaker, but also said Alejo had muttered something insulting under his breath when reprimanded over a placemat.

In an interview on dzMM, Alejo confirmed that Delos Santos went to his house to make amends but stressed that he didn't provoke the congressman by muttering something insulting. He said Delos Santos tried to hit him for allegedly giving the congressman a dirty look.

"It's clearly seen [in the video] that I was walking away and he called me and asked why I was giving him a dirty look," Alejo said in Filipino.

Rene Magtubo, PM national chair, said Delos Santos should resign or be removed from his post by Ang Probinsyano party-list or by the House ethics committee. 

"A student who punches his peer is liable to be expelled from school. A worker who hits a customer will definitely be terminated, and will probably be arrested and jailed. But Delos Santos is still walking free and engaging in verbal acrobatics to assuage the public outrage," Magtubo said.

He added a party-list representive should stand up for workers and not punch them.

"The party-list system has been well and truly bastardized. On the one hand, we have a party-list rep who attacks and abuses a lowly worker. On the other hand, the richest House representative is a party-list congressman," Magtubo, who was a factory worker before sitting as PM party-list representative in 1998, said.

In a statement on Thursday, Ang Probinsyano said it was conducting its own investigation into the incident.

"Definitely we will not tolerate any kind of abuse in our party. We will not hesitate to suspend or even remove Congressman Delos Santos if we establish that this was an unprovoked attack," lawyer Joco Sabio, the party's spokesperson, said.

He said that although Delos Santos is the party-list's nominee, "his actions and his decisions are his own and should not reflect on Ang Probinsyano as a party and as an organization."

In late 2018, another party-list congressman—Rep. Aniceto Bertiz III of ACTS-OFW—was widely criticized after being caught on video confronting an Office of Transportation officer and refusing to take off his shoes at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport's final screening area.

He was also seen shoving his NAIA access card in the officer's face.

He later apologized for the tantrum, attributing his behavior to getting his "monthly period". "I am only human who is sometimes brittle and who loses his temper—I also get stressed at work," he also said.

He later apologized for referring to monthly periods in his apology. — Jonathan de Santos