A TOP official of the House of Representatives yesterday appealed to  senator-judges to stop the seeming deliberate bashing of members of the House prosecution panel aimed at embarrassing the group in the trial of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona, saying they should be accorded with civility and dignity.

House Majority Leader and Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali “Boyet” Gonzales II said he was disappointed with some senator-judges who like the members of the Lower Chamber were elected by the people and must be treated with respect.

“Ako naman, ang appeal ko sa mga senador, partikular sa iilan lang naman, ‘wag namang tinatrato ‘yung prosecutors, particularly House prosecutors na ganoon. Huwag namang sinisigaw-sigawan, ‘wag namang intensyon na parang pinahihiya sa television,” Gonzales told Rowena Salvacion’s radio program Buena Manong Balita over dzBB.

“After all, lets face it, dalawang paligo lang naman ang lamang sa amin ng mga senador ah. Sila they were elected nationally, we were elected in our respective districts so pare-pareho kaming may mga constituents. Pare-pareho kaming nirespeto ng mga taong bumoto sa amin.  Huwag naman sanang sinisigaw-sigawan kami dahil ‘di naman mga busabos itong mga congressman na ito, mga abugado rin ito,” said Gonzales, a lawyer. He did not name the congressmen’s tormentors.

Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas, the lead public prosecutor, got a dressing-down from Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the presiding officer, over his failure to substantiate his request for the court to be more liberal with the prosecutors and his failure to give adequate answer to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s question about the number of witnesses and documents that the prosecution intends to present.

Gonzales warned that the prosecution panel may be forced to tap prosecutors who will engage the few belligerent senator-judges to a heated word war during the trial.

“Eh magpapakawala rin kami diyan ng mga prosecutor na makikipag-sigawan sa kanila, and the moment that happens, then it becomes a personal between the senators and the congressmen and we do not want that to happen dahil ayaw namin na maligaw ang mga tao sa isyu ng impeachment,” said Gonzales.

Being the House Majority Leader, Gonzales said he feels very bad every time his colleagues are being humiliated deliberately during the trial.