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THE
battle for House speakership heated up as a staunch
supporter of Representative-elect Pablo Garcia of
Cebu hit back at
the camp of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. for its alleged
disinformation campaign, the latest of which was the
claim that the race for speakership is over because
President Arroyo has reportedly picked up de Venecia
over Garcia.
Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) Rep. Amado
Bagatsing of Manila said Malacańang’s denial that it is
taking sides on the race for speakership was a censure
of de Venecia and his supporters.
“Two
words sum up Ermita’s message to de Venecia’s
rooters—shut up!” said Bagatsing.
Bagatsing said de Venecia and his supporters more than
deserved Ermita’s rebuke for “putting President Arroyo
in a spot and for waging a disinformation campaign.”
“We
don’t have to say that the President is abandoning
anybody. The speakership row as well as the Senate
presidency is a struggle for leadership. It’s a numbers
game,” Bagatsing quoted Ermita sa saying.
De
Venecia and Garcia are contesting the leadership of the
House.
Bagatsing said Ermita, in effect, also reprimanded de
Venecia and his supporters for “spinning a show of
support by the President for de Venecia” her visit to
Singapore with the outgoing Speaker.
Relatedly, incoming members of Congress belonging to
Kampi signed a “Statement of Solidarity” where they said
that they will vote as one on the speakership issue.
Kampi
members earlier issued a manifesto titled “Call for
Change” in which they endorsed Garcia.
“Committed as we are to constructive change and
determined to put this embattled House in order, we
hereby strongly endorse and support Congressman Pablo
Garcia to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives
for the 14th Congress,” Kampi said.
The
Kampi members declared that “the Office of the Speaker
should not be used as an instrument to advance the
personal interest and political agenda of any person or
party, that the Speaker should be the leader not of a
party but of the entire House and each of its members,
whether he is in the majority or minority.”
They
also demanded for transparency and accountability in the
disbursement of funds of the House, and that each
legislative district should be given its due in terms of
resources and benefits regardless of the party
affiliation of its representative. “The institutional
entitlement of every member must be respected.”
Meanwhile, Garcia’s provincemate Kampi Rep. Nerissa
Soon-Ruiz of Cebu said that the move to install Garcia
as speaker is gaining momentum because of the lack of
confidence of neophyte and veteran congressmen in the
leadership of de Venecia, even as she and her partymates
vowed to deliver a surprise to de Venecia and his
allies.
“We are
not now giving out our numbers in the speakership fight,
but rest assured that come July 23 when the 14th
Congress convenes, we shall have the numbers more than
enough to clinch the speaker’s chair for Congressman
Garcia,” said Soon-Ruiz.
She
claimed that “more and more congressmen are attaching
their signatures to our Call for Change manifesto
calling for the election of Garcia as speaker in order
to introduce reforms in the administration and
policy-direction of the House of Representatives. We
shall submit the manifesto to the entire chamber when
the proper time comes.” |
