The minority leader’s throne

“The minority leader functions as the fiscalizer of the House.

It appears that there is another Game of Thrones (GoT) episode in the House of Representatives—this one now pertains to the seat of the minority leader.

While the minority leader may be third to the Speaker and majority leader, the seats of which have now been settled, it appears that this issue on the minority may lead to another case to the Supreme Court (SC). What people may not know is that the minority leader is an influential position, when used properly, as he stands to be the head of the minority bloc, the members of which he will place in House Committees and Congressional Oversight Committees. The minority leader functions as the fiscalizer of the House and the buck may stop at him and his fellow members of the minority, with regard to all the pending bills and resolutions.

To relate this to GoT, I am reminded by fight within House Baratheon, a family that is oft-times overshadowed by Houses Lannister, Stark and Targaryan, but just as influential in the fictional Westeros. Fellow fans of GoT would recall in Season 2 that Renly Baratheon crowned himself as King of the Iron Throne, despite being the fourth in line, and gained the support of House Tyrell. His older brother, Stannis Baratheon, also laid claim on the Iron Throne and commanded his own army. The conflict eventually led to the killing of Renly by a “shadow” concocted by the priestess Melisandre through the use of dark arts (in a rather disturbing fashion). Yet, all this infighting did nothing to improve their chances in becoming king, causing them to be quite insignificant and they ended up becoming an extinct family as of the latest season of GoT.

Back to reality: Rep. Danilo Suarez now claims the minority leader “throne” since, based on his and Rep. Lito Atienza’s argument, said position was never vacated by virtue of their voting to confirm the Speakership of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. As of last week, we had several others vying for said position, namely, Rep. Miro Quimbo, Rep. Antonio Tinio and Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas.

But a plot twist emerged last night when Fariñas stated that it must be Rep. Eugene de Vera, of ABS Party-list, since he is the highest ranking member of the original minority bloc that did not vote for Speaker Arroyo. De Vera, a deputy minority leader, should therefore be recognized as the acting minority leader and Fariñas wrote, on behalf of former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and his supporters, to De Vera, requesting that they be included in the minority. Following this argument, House members who wish to be part of the minority must likewise write to De Vera.

It seems that this issue is far from over and Fariñas said that he will file a petition for certiorari and prohibition before the SC should the House leadership decide to stick with Suarez as minority leader, refusing to recognize De Vera as acting minority leader. A resolution of this by the SC would enrich jurisprudence on political law.

It may be recalled that a similar controversy on the minority leader, at the start of the 17th Congress, likewise ended up in the SC, in the case entitled Baguilat v. Alvarez, G.R.

227757, 25 July 2017. In this case, it was held that the remedy of mandamus was not applicable, there being no grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction in the implementation of the House rules. Simply put, this case upheld the doctrine of separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches.

Citing the case of Santiago v. Guingona, G.R. 134577, 18 November 1998, the SC stated, “by and large, this case concerns an internal matter of a coequal, political branch of government which, absent any showing of grave abuse of discretion, cannot be judicially interfered with. To rule otherwise would not only embroil this Court in the realm of politics, but also lead to its own breach of the separation of powers doctrine.”

All told, this political exercise may not be healthy for legislation. The latest development is the consolidation of Quimbo and Tinio’s groups to form the #NewHouseMinority, as they call it on social media. While, the House committees are ongoing and bills are already being taken up on the plenary floor, there still exists an unsettled mood in the Batasan Complex.

Everybody knows that committee memberships have yet to be finalized and the staffing for each House member may be subject to change. Like what happened to House Baratheon in the GoT saga, this may lead to the minority’s insignificance in the House. Let’s hope not.

For comments, email him at dmdejesus@house.gov.ph.