Rep. Wimpy Fuentebella: The ‘Impeach Davide’ guy

Once upon a time, a young congressman took on the mighty chief justice of the Supreme Court. This 28-year-old politician from the 3rd district of Camarines Sur questioned the accounting of the Judiciary Development Funds. After a year of being frustrated in his efforts to obtain the records on how P3.7 billion was spent, Felix William Fuentebella felt it was time to take another course of action. Armed with documents to prove his point, Wimpy convinced his colleagues in Congress to impeach Chief Justice Davide.

Our 5’7" bachelor was a consistent honor student of Ateneo grade school and high school. He became an officer of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity when he studied in UP Diliman where he graduated with a BS in Business Administration. Wimpy then went on to study law in Ateneo. Now on his first term as a congressman, Wimpy’s challenge to the justice system may yet strengthen – or weaken – the democratic principles of the Philippines.

What is your passion?

I love to sleep. I love to teach.

What is your most fervent wish?

To wake people up and let them fully understand how government works. I will never stop until there is full disclosure of government expenditures and assets. Our greatest ally in this should be the courts.

How do you resolve your conflicts?

Resort to reason and principle.

What film influenced your life?

Braveheart. Imagine, he was shouting "Freedom" as they chopped off his head.

What book influenced your life?

Noli Me Tangere. The idealism of a young person who has been stepped on and hindered by society due to lack of communication and misunderstanding. There were also players that deliberately stopped everything.

What is your greatest fear?

I am just like my dad; my greatest fear is my mom, Evelyn Buquid Fuentebella.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

I don’t want to sound arrogant.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Misleading people.

What is your motto?

Truth shall set us free.

What is your current state of mind?

I feel vindicated by waking a sector up and convincing 1/3rd of the Congress to sign this impeachment vote.

What is your greatest extravagance?

My teaching. I love teaching. In grade school, I taught math. In high school, I taught religion in Marikina.

What words or phrases do you overuse?

Open the books.

Which historical character would you like to have been?

Jose Rizal who was a teacher. He was always fighting for education. Leaders were trying to stop him. Now I can see the wisdom of what he has written.

Name a moment that brings back happy memories.

When I am teaching. The only reason I entered politics was that one of my mentors told me I would just have a bigger classroom.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

First I thought my greatest achievement was passing the anti-dummy money laundering law even when the leadership was telling me to lie low. I was a three-month-old congressman then. I still have the letters from Pres. GMA and Speaker JDV congratulating me.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Being content with what I have and what I do. Being able to change some things.

Which famous quotation would you have wanted to be the author of?

Louis Brandeis said, "On a question of public policy, it is no disrespect to the Supreme Court to say that the majority of the court were mistaken. There is no reason why five gentlemen of the Supreme Court should know better what public policy demands than five gentlemen of Congress. "

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