The plot to oust Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez was hatched during the birthday of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo in Lubao, Pampanga on 5 April last year where top officials of Arroyo’s Lakas party met.

Discussed during the meeting was the plan to merge with the administration’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP).

A Daily Tribune source said that initially Lakas leaders expressed concern during the meeting about the mass exodus of party members.

Administration party representatives who met with Arroyo proposed a merger in which Arroyo will be named head of the House of Representatives.

Arroyo declined the offer to replace Alvarez because she wanted Lakas intact.

On 11 October last year, Arroyo finally took her oath as PDP member before President Duterte.

A Lakas official who was appointed to a top government post, according to another source, acted as “broker” and began to mobilize support from congressmen to rally behind Arroyo.

Among the first group of congressmen who responded to the move were the so called “Solid North” who are backers of the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

The original plan was for the naming of Arroyo as Speaker when Congress convened last May but it did not materialize because Arroyo remained reluctant to accept the offer.

Another source said Arroyo was supposed to join PDP before assuming the top post at the House of Representatives.

Most of Arroyo’s partymates in Lakas had joined PDP, including her former spokesman Raul Lambino who is now PDP Laban deputy secretary general for constitutional reforms.

Arroyo’s allies circulated a manifesto of support to endorse her as Speaker.

“We, the elected members of the House of Representatives of the 17th Congress, in the interest of providing a more dynamic legislature attuned with the times and the needs of the people, have formed a coalition, to endorse and support the election of our colleague, Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as Speaker of the House of Representatives,” the manifesto read.

The manifesto stressed that a “credible and competent” House leadership would be needed “to guide and steer the national debate towards a resolution” of critical issues involving the future structure and framework of the government, referring to the proposed federalism shift.

It also noted that a pro-active legislative agenda is also needed to “safeguard the nation’s economic growth and secure the safety of our people” as the Duterte administration reaches the mid-point of its term.

“It is in consideration of these grave concerns that we believe, that the House of Representatives, and the nation, will benefit from the experience, competence, sobriety, steady, and unifying leadership of former President and Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Speaker of the House of Representatives,” it read.

Earlier in the day, the House of Representatives abruptly adjourned its session until 4 p.m. without ratifying the Bangsamoro Organic Law.

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