House punishes Bong Suntay with community service over remarks about Anne Curtis

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives reprimanded Deputy Minority Leader Bong Suntay of Quezon City’s 4th District on Wednesday, June 3, avoiding the stricter penalty of suspension, over his inappropriate remarks about actress Anne Curtis.

The chamber, in a vote of 263-8-7, also approved the House ethics committee’s recommendation that Suntay render voluntary community service, attend a gender sensitivity seminar to be conducted by the House’s women and gender equality committee, and publicly apologize to Curtis and all women.

“The committee finds… Suntay guilty of committing disorderly behavior, having uttered improper statements during the March 3, 2026 hearing of the House committee on justice, along with all other relevant statements made thereon on social media which reflected negatively upon the dignity, integrity, and reputation of the House of Representatives,” committee chair JC Abalos said in his plenary speech.

“If we do not police our own ranks, we erode public trust for the entire legislature. Misconduct cannot mask itself as free speech or can institutional privilege be used as a shield against accountability,” Abalos added.

Rappler first reported on Tuesday, June 2, about the House ethics committee decision to recommend a lighter penalty on Suntay. During Tuesday’s plenary proceedings into expelled congressman Kiko Barzaga’s case, Suntay had thanked his colleagues who moved not to suspend him.

Suntay drew condemnation in March for using an analogy during a House justice committee hearing about him fantasizing about Curtis. The comments were immediately stricken off House records.

“The fact remains that such statements have already been uttered and recorded on video, and could be watched and rewatched multiple times, seen and heard by Filipinos and even by the international community,” Abalos said on Wednesday.

“It does not undo the harm caused or reverse the insensitivities towards women who felt offended,” he added.

Play Video

Suntay used Curtis in his analogy in an attempt to defend Vice President Sara Duterte, who once said she has imagined decapitating President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. That statement is one of the grounds cited in her impeachment case.

he congressman later apologized to those who saw his remarks as malicious.

“The woman is not a joke, she is not a fantasy, and the dignity of women should never be made the subject of humor within Congress,” House committee on women and gender equality chair Ann Matibag previously said in her plenary speech as she called for a committee investigation into Suntay’s remarks.

Curtis released a statement on March 7, saying she did not accept Suntay’s “non-apology.”

“Since you used me as an example, let me use you as one too. You’ve become the poster boy of something much bigger: a culture that still thinks it’s acceptable to talk about women this way. Worse, one that tolerates it from our leaders. As they say, misogyny dressed up as a joke is still misogyny,” Curtis said. – Rappler.com