Arlene Escalante posted a photo of Gatchalian's parked vehicle blocking a PWD access ramp on Friday, October 5. "Mga katropa, the who po kaya itong pasaway na congressman na hinarangan pa daanan ng PWD (Friends, who is this arrogant congressman who blocked the PWD ramp)??!" Escalante wrote on Facebook. On Monday, October 8, Gatchalian issued a public apology, stating that he had taken appropriate steps to ensure that it would not happen again, and that he had suspended the employee engaged in the incident.

Lopez made the accusations amid the backlash of her controversial decision to close down 23 mines and scrap 75 mining contracts. The closures sparked protests and raised questions as to her competence and qualifications to handle a crucial department. Valenzuela City Rep. Wes Gatchalian, a member of the Commission on Appointments (CA), has categorically denied the accusations of Environment Secretary Gina Lopez that members of the commission were offered money to deny her confirmation. “No one offered me even a single centavo to deny the confirmation of Secretary Gina Lopez. This information clearly had malicious intentions to cast aspersions toward the commission as a whole,” Gatchalian said following Lopez accusations that every CA member was offered P50 million to reject her confirmation.