Muslim solon slaps waitress after being served pork

A woman Muslim lawmaker blew her top on Monday evening after being served food with pork and reportedly slapped a waitress of a dining lounge at the House of Representatives in Quezon City. "Maybe I was hypterensive, I lost control," Lanao del Sur Rep. Faysah Dumarpa said in Filipino, who said she was "assured" her the dish she was served was pork-free after having inquired several times. "I felt I was betrayed, that I was deceived," said Dumarpa, one of 12 Muslim lawmakers in the House. Waitress Virginia Altamerano of Shangri-la Finest Cuisine, caterer at the House, reported the incident to police after getting slapped by Dumarpa, which reportedly caused the food server to lose an earring. Superintendent Tante Agpaoa, head of station 6 (Batasan Hills) of Quezon City’s Central Police District, said Altamerano arrived at 10 pm Monday, not to file a case against the congresswoman, but to have the incident recorded in the blotter. Senior police officer 1 (SPO1) Andy Aserit said the incident occurred at around 6:30 pm Monday. Dumarpa narrated that she found out that she ate pork only after a Muslim colleague, who was also present at the South Lounge where they were having dinner, pointed it out. The lawmaker said by then she had finished eating the pancit with pork. "What I did was a natural reaction on a situation where I felt betrayed. I was grossly insulted," she said. The Mindanao lawmaker said she had to eat first because she was about to take hypertensive medicine. In a letter to Ramon Sy, head of the House caterer, Dumarpa asked that Shangri-la involved in the incident be fired. "It is a policy of the House that only halal food shall be served to Muslim congressmen, and this has been relayed to you as a concessionaire," she wrote Sy in her single-page letter. "As a Muslim, it is forbidden in Islam for a believer to eat pork or its derivatives. To do so is a grievous sin. An intentional consumption of such meat would hinder me from gaining entrance to paradise. Beyond dietary concerns, this is a matter of faith," she said. The incident led a fellow Muslim lawmaker, Mujiv Hataman of party-list Anak Mindanao, to suggest that a separate lounge for Muslim lawmakers be set up. "The House should take responsibility for this unfortunate incident on Dumarpa. This indicates the lack of religious and cultural sensitivity even within the House itself," Hataman told GMANews.TV. "The House should observe measures that are respectful of faith-based differences in customs and beliefs, such as ensuring Halal food preparations or putting up separate lounge," Hataman said in a text message. But another Muslim lawmaker who spoke on condition of anonymity said Dumarpa overreacted, noting that eating pork unintentionally was not a sin. "What she should do is educate the person on the Islam culture and ask for an apology. What she did will leave a bad mark to the Muslim culture," the lawmaker said, who opposed creating a separate lounge for Muslim solons because it could be interpreted as discriminatory. "She probably forgot that she is a lawmaker and she was inside the halls of Congress. What she did is not proper and I feel sorry for her," the lawmaker added. -GMANews.TV