04/12/2025
STATEMENT OF SEN. RODANTE D. MARCOLETA ON THE SUSPENSION OF REP. KIKO BARZAGA
The suspension of Rep. Kiko Barzaga is not merely a dispute over ethicsโit is about silencing dissent. It is a reaction to his efforts to spotlight deeper, long-standing problems that demand public scrutiny. The facts speak for themselves, yet the Committee chose to penalize expressions that sought to withdraw attention to issues affecting governance, accountability, and public welfare. When a governing body stretches the concept of โethicsโ to include criticism of systemic shortcomings, it transforms an oversight mechanism into a tool of political control.
The posts in question were clearly aimed at raising awareness, engaging constituents, encouraging civic participation, or using humor and commentary to highlight issues of public concern. These are core democratic spaces that should not be sacrificed in the altar of the House Rules. Public officials routinely communicate with the people they represent, and social media platforms have become one of the most direct avenues for doing so. Penalizing such communication sends a message that only sanitized and approved speech is safe, a message that undermines the very transparency and openness that ethical governance supposedly demands. By responding with punitive action instead of engagement, the Committee signals an unwillingness to confront these systemic problems, shielding the very ills that Rep. Kiko Barzaga sought to expose.
๐๐ข ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฌ๐ฐ, ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฌ๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐จ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฌ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ฎ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐จ๐ข ๐ช๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ช๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ข ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐จ๐ข ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ด๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ, ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐บ; ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ข๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ.
๐๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐บ ๐ช๐ต๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง. ๐๐ง ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ถ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ. ๐๐ข ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐บ๐ข, ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ข๐ฐโ๐ด๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จโ๐ข๐บ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ข๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ฌโ๐ช๐ต๐ฐโ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ.