GMA allies: Minority row settled, Suarez is it

MANILA, Philippines — For allies of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the squabble at the House of Representatives is now settled and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez retains his post as minority leader.

Reps. Michael Romero of 1-Pacman and Ron Salo of Kabayan, both assistant majority leaders, revealed this on Wednesday night during an interview on “The Chiefs” show on Cignal TV’5 One News.

“Last Monday, the leadership of the House recognized Cong. Suarez as the minority leader. The committee on rules seconded this the next day, Tuesday. At this point, that recognition by the majority is official,” Romero said.

He said a majority of House members declared the position of Speaker vacant on July 23, when the current 17th Congress opened its third and last regular session, and Arroyo was elected as new Speaker.

“The position of minority leader was not declared vacant,” Romero said.

This was also the main argument of Suarez in insisting that he is still the minority leader despite the fact that he voted for Arroyo.

Salo said if the other groups still want to grab the minority leadership from Suarez, they could seek the intervention of the courts.

The Liberal Party-dominated bloc of Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo and the group of ousted speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and former majority leader Rodolfo Fariñas are laying claim on Suarez’s post.

Quimbo said under House rules, the 184 congressmen who voted for Arroyo as Speaker including Suarez should be counted with the majority. Those who abstained like him should constitute the new minority.

Fariñas shared Romero’s view that the minority leadership was not declared vacant and therefore the constituted minority before Alvarez’s ouster should continue to exist.

But since Suarez and his senior deputy, Rep. Lito Atienza of Buhay party-list, voted for Arroyo, they effectively relinquished their posts and the next in line – Rep. Eugene Michael de Vera – should succeed his minority bosses, the former majority leader said.

This is the reason why he, Alvarez and 11 of their colleagues applied to join De Vera’s minority and have been accepted, Fariñas said.

He said their group met yesterday and formally elected De Vera as their mino-rity leader.

Fariñas and Quimbo vowed to challenge the majority’s recognition of Suarez as minority leader.

In his television interview, Romero, who is an economist, said lawmakers should pass legislation that would reduce poverty among Filipinos.

“Poverty incidence has remained at 23 percent for the last 10 years. We should try to alleviate the plight of our poor countrymen,” he said.

In a separate radio interview, Romero said he does not think the groups that are after the minority leader’s post would resort to obstructing the process of legislation.

“I don’t think that is the role they would want to play. It won’t gain support among House members and our people,” he said.

He said the House, under Speaker Arroyo, has been functioning smoothly, approving more than 23 bills on third and final reason on Tuesday before allowing privilege speeches on the minority leadership issue.