House leadership: No PDP exodus, shakeup

With no mass exodus happening in the Partido Demokratiko Pilipinas (PDP) following the change in leadership in the House of Representatives, a lawmaker yesterday said it is likely for committee heads and members to keep their posts despite talks of a shakeup.

And while Negros Occidental third district Representative Alfredo Benitez said there should be no changes in the composition of the majority and minority blocs in Congress, he said the House should credit former Speaker and Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez for being instrumental in expanding the PDP membership base and transforming it into one of the strongest political parties in the country.

“We all agreed to preserve the gains that the former Speaker (Alvarez) has contributed to the party,” Benitez said.

Alvarez was ousted as House Speaker following a rump session by members of the Congress before and after President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on 23 July.

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Representative of Pampanga, was installed as Speaker.

Benitez, leader of the 42-member Visayan bloc, said in a radio interview that the tug-of-war for leadership should not affect the present sets of committees.

He said there is no need to form new majority and minority blocs.

“This can only be applied if Congress has not been constituted,” said Benitez. “In this case, it’s not what happened.

The minority and majority membership in the House were already formed.”

The lawmaker cited the case when former Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella replaced then House Speaker Manuel Villar in 2000, saying that the rule only applies when the House has not been constituted.

House Rule II, Section 8 states that: “Members who vote for the winning candidate for Speaker shall constitute the Majority in the House and they shall elect from among themselves the Majority Leader.”

“If I am not mistaken, Congressman Nonoy Andaya was one of those who were in the minority before and voted for the winning Speaker and reverted to the minority position,” he said.

“This is different. The rule that they are implementing only applies when the House has not been constituted, or newly-formed,” Benitez added.

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