Drilon: Suarez as minority leader would make House 'laughing stock of history'
MANILA, Philippines — If the group of Rep. Danilo Suarez (Quezon Province) insists that it is the real minority in the House of Representatives despite voting for Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, they will be the "laughing stock" of history, according to a ranking leader of the Senate.
Senate Minoriy Leader Franklin Drilon said on Thursday that Suarez and his colleagues in the group who voted for Arroyo could not be part of the chamber's minority.
"They will be the laughing stock of history. But again, Representative Danny Suarez voted for CGMA and cannot become part of the Minority," Drilon said during a media forum.
Another possibility that can happen in the tussle among different blocs in the House for the title of the chamber's minority is the stocking of the group with the allies of Arroyo, Drilon said.
Confusion is currently enveloping the House as different factions of lawmakers are jostling for the recognition as the chamber's minority bloc.
The contending parties are the remnants of the once-powerful Liberal Party, the group of deposed House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, the so-called Makabayan bloc and the faction of Suarez.
Suarez insisted that he was still the minority leader because it was not vacated in the first place.
Suarez and several of his minority colleagues helped install Arroyo as speaker in a leadership row that played out on national television, in front of local and foreign dignitaries and just as President Rodrigo Dutere was about to deliver his annual address.
The president's State of the Nation Address was delayed by more than an hour and the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law was deferred by a day due to the high-stakes political showdown.
According to House rules, those who voted for the winning speaker would constitute the majority while the candidate with the second highest vote would become the minority leader.
No one ran against Arroyo, but Suarez, who admits being a close friend of the former president, belongs to the same party as the speaker, PDP-Laban.
The group of the so-called "Magnificent 7," meanwhile, decided to coalesce with LP lawmakers.
They abstained during Monday's voting and have chosen House Deputy Speaker Romero Quimbo (Marikina) as their leader in what they called as the "new minority."
"It cannot happen that the speaker, the majority leader and the minority leader all belong to the PDP-Laban," Drilon said.
"This is the reason why the Liberal Party asserts that we are the minority party in the House," he added.
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