MANILA, Philippines — Following his meeting with President Duterte last Thursday, Sen. Manny Pacquiao is set to announce today the candidate of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) for House of Representatives speaker in the 18th Congress, which convenes on July 22.
Pacquiao rushed to General Santos City on a borrowed private plane after he received word that Duterte had granted his request for an audience before he leaves for the US today for his fight with Keith Thurman.
The two, along with senator-elect Christopher Go, talked for about an hour on the tarmac of the airport. Pacquiao returned to Manila afterward.
PDP-Laban leaders had tasked Pacquiao to discuss with Duterte their plan to field a common candidate for speaker.
The assignment was given to Pacquiao Tuesday night after Reps. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. of Pampanga, Lord Allan Velasco of Marinduque and Pantaleon Alvarez of Davao del Norte failed to agree on who would be their party’s candidate for the top House post.
The three had dinner at Pacquiao’s Forbes Park, Makati home, with the boxing champion and PDP-Laban president Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III acting as mediators.
After the meeting, Pacquiao said he would try to convince Duterte to support a particular aspirant from the administration party.
He said it would be dangerous if the next House leader does not come from PDP-Laban because the House could go against Duterte in his remaining years in office.
“PDP-Laban is the political party of President Duterte. We will support him all the way,” Pacquiao said.
Sources privy to the meeting said Pacquiao asked Duterte who would be his choice. The President told the senator to wait for his call today for his decision.
It remains unclear whether Duterte will name someone – not from PDP-Laban – or give instructions on how to resolve the matter.
It is also possible, as Malacañang officials have said, that Duterte will keep his hands off the issue.
The sources said Duterte also mentioned a topic that surprised Pacquiao and Go but did not elaborate.
Pacquiao said there is a possibility that Duterte may endorse an aspirant outside the ruling party or work out a term-sharing scheme for all contenders.
He also raised the possibility that Duterte may anoint an ally but one not coming from PDP-Laban.
“(Pacquaio) got a sense of who the speakership aspirant is from our party whom President Duterte prefers to lead the House in his remaining three years in office. That preference is equivalent to an endorsement,” said a lawmaker who asked not to be named.
Pacquiao served as PDP-Laban national campaign manager in the midterm elections last month. His deputy was Gonzales, one of the three speakership aspirants from the administration party.
For Gonzales, Duterte’s endorsement of an aspirant from the ruling party will “promote the national interest.”
He said without such an endorsement, “power brokers and big business interests will influence the election of the next speaker.”
There are two other aspirants for speaker – Leyte’s Martin Romualdez and Taguig’s Alan Peter Cayetano.
Romualdez is president of Lakas-CMD while Cayetano belongs to the Nacionalista Party. The former foreign affairs secretary has won the support of National Unity Party.
Outgoing Minority Leader Danilo Suarez has said Romualdez would have the edge in case of a free-for-all.
For their part, some party-list representatives prefer fresh faces as the next leaders of the House.
“We want a new name, a younger speaker. We will go for younger, newer leaders with fresh ideas,” Rep. Lito Atienza of Buhay party-list told the Café Adriatico news forum in Manila.
Atienza said leaders coming from traditional political families got the country nowhere.
“We had them year in and year out, decades here, decades there. Where are we? We are moving backward. We have to more forward,” he said. – With Paolo Romero