REPRESENTATIVE Claudine Diana Bautista-Lim of Dumper PTDA (Drivers United for Mass Progress and Equal Rights–Philippines Taxi Drivers Association) partylist said she was hurt by the accusation of actor Enchong Dee that she did nothing in her stint at the House of Representatives.
Bautista-Lim, during the grand rally organized by her party on Labor Day Sunday evening, May 1, highlighted some of her party's accomplishments during their three-year stint in Congress.
During the Covid-19 response, she said Dumper had provided financial and other assistance to the drivers of the public sector who were affected by the pandemic.
She added that they had initiated a free vaccination rollout to the transport sector.
She said her party had 10,000 scholars in the Davao Region.
The Dumper Party candidate, meanwhile, highlighted some of the assistance she provided in the city in terms of livelihood and infrastructure.
The lawmaker said her party had enacted 101 bills, of which seven were already signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
She added that her party had allocated a budget for the construction of the Mental Wellness Center for Homeless and the City Library in Davao City.
“Mao nang magsakit gyud ang akong buot nga ingnon lang ko ni Enchong nga wala koy gibuhat (That is why I was hurt with the accusation of Enchong that I did nothing in my position),” Bautista-Lim said.
She said the actor reached out to her after the latter criticized her wedding in 2021 with her husband, Jose French “Tracker” Lim, a businessman and the party’s second nominee for the party.
"Niingon baya gyud si Enchong nga buhaton daw niya maski unsa, akoa lang siya pasayluon (Enchong had said that he would do anything just for me to forgive him),” she said while asking the crowd, in jest, that she would let the actor dance on stage in return.
She, later on, shifted the topic and asked for the crowd’s support in their bid for reelection in the upcoming polls.
The wedding drew criticisms from netizens after Dubai-based fashion designer Michael Cinco posted a photograph of the wedding gown on social media.
Bautista-Lim filed a cyberlibel complaint against several personalities, including Dee, who posted “malicious” and “defamatory” statements against her via social media in November 2021 following her wedding.
Dee posted on his Twitter account, saying: “The money for commuters and drivers went to her wedding. Let’s not prolong this conversation and don’t say otherwise.”
On January 31, this year, the actor surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and posted P48,000 as bail.
Bautista-Lim, meanwhile, belied claims that the expenses of her wedding, including the gown, were sourced from government funds. She added that all of it was shouldered by her husband.
“Muingon sila, si Enchong, nga akoang kwarta daw gigasto sa kasal, gikuha daw sa pondo sa gobyerno. Unsaon man nato na nga ang lalaki may mubayad sa kasal... ang akong bana, pwede gyud mubayad sa among kasal (Enchong said that I was the one who shouldered the wedding’s expenses, which I allegedly took from the government funding. How can that be when my husband shouldered everything... he is capable of shouldering it),” she said, adding that her husband is capable of shouldering their wedding expenses.