ILOILO City – Congressmen Jerry Treñas (Lone District, Iloilo City), Ferjenel Biron (4th District, Iloilo) and Raul Tupas (5th District, Iloilo) confirmed having voted to make former president and now Pampanga congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as new Speaker of the House of Representatives on Monday.
According to Treñas, he voted for Arroyo after then House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez himself said he was willing to step down when President Rodrigo Duterte would ask him to do so.
Arroyo was sworn in as Speaker on Monday night after the President delivered his third State of the Nation Address at the joint session of Congress at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.
She became the country’s first woman Speaker of the House and could become prime minister if a shift in the form of government (to federal parliamentary) succeeds.
Treñas also cited the “confluence of support” to Arroyo of other congressmen from various political parties such as the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), Liberal Party, Nacionalista Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition, and even party-lists.
Treñas is a party-mate of Alvarez in the PDP-Laban.
“Malacañang was not opposed to a change of leadership in the House,” added Treñas who served as mayor of Iloilo City and head of the League of Cities of the Philippines when Arroyo was president.
Meanwhile, Biron and Tupas said they voted for Arroyo because this was the stand of their Nacionalista Party.
Tupas said he heard about moves to have a new Speaker as far back as six months ago yet.
Cong. Arthur Defensor Jr. of Iloilo’s 3rd District said he was not able to attend the House session after the President’s SONA so he was not able to cast his vote.
A party-mate of Alvarez and also close to Arroyo, Defensor said it was difficult for him to choose one over the other.
He expressed hope that the House would buckle down to work now that its leadership issue had been settled.
House Deputy Speaker Cong. Fredenil Castro of Capiz also voted for Arroyo. He said 248 congressmen, not 184 as previously reported, supported the former president.
As of this writing, other congressmen in Western Visayas could not be reached for comment regarding the change in House leadership./PN
