MANILA, Philippines — As the feud goes on for recognition as the official minority at the House of Representatives, a Liberal Party solon accused the group of Rep. Danilo Suarez (Quezon) of stealing the Filipino people's right to checks and balances in the chamber.
Suarez has refused to step down as minority leader despite voting for Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo earlier this week.
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Rep. Edgar Erice (Caloocan City) stressed that House rules indicate that those who voted for the winning speaker will constitute the chamber's minority.
"I urge all my colleagues in the minority to exert all effort to fight this in the courts, on the streets, and in all forms of protest action to frustrate the Suarez group’s machinations," Erice said in a statement.
"What the Suarez camp is doing will likely tarnish the image of the Congress and will destroy the credibility of the laws that it will pass," Erice added.
LP lawmakers have reiterated that they are the "real" minority at the House of Representatives.
In a separate statement, the LP lawmakers cited a July 25, 2017 Supreme Court decision which said "all those who vote for the winning Speaker shall belong to the Majority and those who vote for other candidates shall belong to the Minority; (b) those who abstain from voting shall likewise be considered part of the Minority; and (c) the Minority Leader shall be elected by members of the Minority.”
The 12 LP lawmakers pointed out that the process that allowed Arroyo to ascend as speaker were the same rules that would determine the members of the minority bloc.
"Others who claim to be the Minority, but voted for the new Speaker, cannot do so. They are part of the Majority," the LP senators said.
The lawmakers have chosen Rep. Miro Quimbo (Marikina) as the new minority leader.
Meanwhile, the seven-member Makabayan bloc said that it is willing to work with other groups to oppose the Duterte administration's "anti-people" agenda. — Patricia Lourdes Viray