House expels Kiko Barzaga

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives expelled Cavite 4th District Representative Kiko Barzaga on Tuesday, June 2, becoming only the second lawmaker in Philippine history to receive such a penalty.

The chamber dismissed Barzaga upon determination that he has continued his unruly conduct.

“Representative Barzaga engaged in a pattern of highly disruptive, discourteous, and disorderly behavior that directly obstructed plenary sessions and desecrated parliamentary solemnity,” ethics committee chairman JC Abalos said.

The offenses include:

1. Repeated interruption of plenary sessions
2. Mockery of leadership, including former House speaker Martin Romualdez
3. Unauthorized and slanderous live broadcasts during budget plenary sessions

“The committee finds Barzaga to have committed disorderly behavior and demonstrated conduct unbecoming of a member of the House of Representatives,” Abalos asserted.

“The committee considers that another penalty of suspension will not likely deter the improper behavior that reflects negatively on the House.”

Ahead of the vote, Barzaga was already at peace with the punishment to be imposed on him.

“It’s my last day in Congress, so I’m saying my goodbyes to my fellow colleagues. And I’m telling them not to steal so much,” Barzaga told Rappler.

Barzaga had already been slapped with two 60-day suspension orders, prior to his expulsion.

Barzaga’s colleagues previously called out his online antics, including his apparent vilification of his former party mate in the National Unity Party (NUP), the late Romeo Acop, as well as his bribery allegations against billionaire Enrique Razon, believed to be the main financial backer of the NUP.

He had also been called out over posts that jokingly talked about setting the Batasang Pambansa on fire.

Barzaga follows in the footsteps of Arnie Teves, whom the House ejected in 2023 after his prolonged absence. Teves had been tagged as the mastermind in the killing of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo, and was hiding from authorities at the time.

While two House lawmakers have already been expelled under the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., this extreme punishment used to be rarely imposed. Before Teves, the only lawmaker who nearly got expelled was Nueva Ecija’s Nicanor de Guzman, who was convicted of gun smuggling in 1990. He got suspended, and then resigned even before expulsion became a reality.

Kiko’s expulsion ends the reign of the Barzagas in the congressional seat that covers Dasmariñas. His late father Elpidio Jr. first represented Dasmariñas in Congress in 2007, and at the time, the city was still part of Cavite’s second district.

After the patriarch died in 2024, Kiko won the electoral seat his father vacated, winning the 2025 congressional race in Dasmariñas by less than five-percentage-points against his closest rival, independent candidate Jesse Frani.

For a time, Barzaga served as House assistant majority leader in the 20th Congress, until he became a vocal critic of President Marcos and then-speaker Martin Romualdez.

He resigned from the National Unity Party in September 2025 after being supposedly linked to an alleged plot to oust Romualdez. He is now a member of Partido ng Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP), the party of former president Rodrigo Duterte. – Rappler.com

المصدر: Rappler (PH)