Eric Go Yap is a Filipino politician serving as a Party-listRepresentative for ACT-CIS since 2019, and concurrently since January 2020, as the Legislative Caretaker of Benguet.
Yap was first elected into public office in 2019, together with Jocelyn Pua-Tulfo and Rowena Niña Taduran as representatives of the ACT-CIS Partylist for the 18th Congress of the Philippines. Garnering a historic vote of 2,651,987 votes, ACT-CIS Partylist was declared the number one partylist in the 2019 National Elections. Yap was one of the principal authors of House Bill No. 5477 which was signed into law as Republic Act No. 11463 by President Duterte in December 2019 which institutionalizes the Malasakit Centers—a one-stop shop for government medical and financial assistance. In July 2020, amidst the House's hearing on the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN, Yap disclosed that an emissary from the media company attempted to bribe him ₱200 million to vote in favor of the network's franchise renewal. Yap responded that his "principle and vote are not for sale". In an official statement, ABS-CBN denied Yap's allegations, saying: "We believe in the process and we have participated in the process". Yap later clarified that he was not accusing ABS-CBN, explaining that he received a phone call from someone claiming to be an ABS-CBN emissary, and that he was not able to verify if the caller's claims were true. On July 10, Yap was one of the 70 members of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises who voted against renewing ABS-CBN's franchise.
Legislative Caretaker of Benguet
After the death of Benguet representative Nestor Fongwan Sr. on December 18, 2019, Yap was appointed as the Legislative Caretaker of the district on January 20, 2020. The appointment was controversial as Yap is not from Benguet or Cordillera. If Yap becomes the permanent representative, it would be a violation of Republic Act No. 6645 which requires a special election to fill such vacancies in the House. The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Benguet has passed a resolution asking Congress to conduct the special election. One Yap's proposed legislations for Benguet is the re-nationalization of Benguet General Hospital, which will allow better focus on the provision and improvement of the delivery of health care services and its existing facilities through appropriate funding support from the Department of Health.
Committee assignments and House positions
On the commencement of the 18th congress, Yap was appointed as the chairman of the Games and Amusements Committee. On March 2, 2020, Yap was appointed as chairman of the Appropriations Committee replacing Isidro Ungab, whom Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano accused of being part of a plot to oust him. He is the first neophyte congressman and first partylist representative to lead the Committee on Appropriations, which tackles all matters directly and principally relating to the expenditures of the national government including payment of public indebtedness, creation or abolition and classification of positions in government, and the determination of salaries, allowances and benefits of government personnel. He also serves as the Vice Chairperson of the Committee on Games and Amusements, Committee on Good Government and Accountability, Committee on Government Enterprises and Privatization and the Committee on Ways and Means. Alongside, he is a member of the Committees on Accounts; Banks and Financial Intermediaries; Energy; Flagship Programs and Projects; Foreign Affairs; Good Government and Public Accountability; Higher and Technical Education; Justice; Legislative Franchises; Overseas Workers Affairs; Public Accounts; Public Works and Highways; and Transportation.
Personal life
On March 25, 2020, Yap initially announced that he tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 but turned out to be negative a result of an "encoding error". The lawmaker took the test on March 15 for he was exposed to several people and not for being symptomatic for the disease. During the eleven-day wait period for the test result he divulged that he still attended and visited governmental meetings, like on March 21 at the Malacañang Palace and on March 23 at the special session of the House of Representatives. Two days after the confirmation, on March 27, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, who tested his samples, have stated that Yap's result was actually negative but was listed initially as positive due to an "encoding error". Yap accepted the apology of the research center.
