The House of Representatives may summon Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong to testify before a joint committee tasked to probe the flood control mess which the local executive criticized as a mere “moro-moro” or farce.

Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. said Magalong must “appear at our hearings name names, submit documents and testify under oath” to prove his accusations that congressmen were involved in anomalies in the implementation of multi-billion peso flood control projects.

Abante made the statement after being informed that Magalong has refused to apologize to the Lower House for his alleged offensive remarks against congressmen.

Aside from Abante, Reps. Richard Gomez of Leyte and Zia Alonto Adiong of Lanao del Sur criticized Magalong’s accusations against House members.

But instead of taking a hand-off stance into the flood control anomalies, the House has decided to conduct its own investigation.

This was the reason why Magalong assailed the congressional leadership, claiming that a parallel probe to be conducted by Lower House is a mere “moro-moro”, a description that Alonto found offensive to the Muslim community.

Gomez, on the other hand, also defended the Lower House against the Baguio official’s tirade, saying that the local executive must do some housecleaning before pointing accusing fingers at others.

Reacting to Abante’s statement, Magalong stressed that he will not apologize for his comments.

“Paano ka magtitiwala sa alam mong kayo ‘yung tinawag na ‘mahiya kayo’ tapos magco-conduct kayo ng sariling imbestigasyon. Tingnan natin kung saan tutungo iyan,” noted Magalong

Magalong was referring to the President Bongbong Marcos’ last State of the Nation Address where he exposed the massive irregularities in the awarding and implementation of flood control projects in the country.

Lower House neophyte Rep. Leila De Lima of Mamamayang Liberal supported the same argument against the House probe into the flood control mess.

“I take the position that it would not be prudent on the part of this House as it might entail possible conflict of interest,” said De Lima.

“In short, the House itself investigating this issue, when there has been so many reports when there has been so many speculations about the possible involvement of certain members of the House, this would not sit well with the public,:” she said upon registering a no vote to the move assign three House committees to conduct an inquiry into the flood control issue.