THE new leadership of the House of Representatives has implemented a reshuffle among its officials committee posts following the controversial speakership row.
The lower chamber elected Oriental Mindoro Rep. Salvador Leachon as senior deputy speaker, replacing Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, who was appointed as new chairman of the House Committee on Accounts.
Duterte had replaced Cavite Rep. Abraham Tolentino.
Also, 1-Pacman Rep. Michael Romero was reelected as deputy speaker, while Camarines Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte has been removed as deputy speaker.
Quezon 4th District Rep. Angelina Helen Tan regained also her chairmanship of the House Committee on Health.
Tan and Romero were removed by former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano last week in the thick of the speakership tussle.
Ilocos Sur Rep. Kristine Singson-Meehan was elected as new vice chairman of the accounts committee.
The jurisdiction of the accounts committee covers all matters directly and principally relating to the internal budget of the House, including budget preparation, submission and approval, disbursements, accounting, and financial operations.
House Committee on Appropriations chairman Eric Yap said he will remain as chairman of his committee even after the passage of the P4.5- trillion national budget for 2021.
Yap’s committee covers directly and principally matters relating to the expenditures of the national government, including payment of public indebtedness, creation or abolition and classification of positions in government, and the determination of salaries, allowances and benefits of government personnel.
Meanwhile, other casualties of the speakership row who were expected to be reappointed but yet to be restored to their posts as of afternoon of Wednesday were AAMBIS-OWA Party-list Rep. Sharon Garin and Valenzuela City Rep. Eric Martinez.
Garin was removed by Cayetano as chairman of Committee on Economic Affairs and Martinez was removed as chairman of the Committee on Youth and Sports Development, because they sided with Velasco in last week’s initial tussle.
Camp ‘jumpers’ defended
Meanwhile, San Jose del Monte City Rep. Florida Robes, who remained as chairman of the House Committee on People’s Participation, defended lawmakers who jumped from the Cayetano camp to side with new Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.
Robes said as lawmakers, they only respected the 15-21 term-sharing agremeent between Cayetano and Velasco, which was forged by President Duterte last year.
“We just voted in accordance with the term-sharing agreement,” she said, referring to the date when Cayetano should have resigned (October 14) under the Duterte-brokered agreement. Cayetano simply “offered to resign” last September 30, and some of the lawmakers who voted “no” to the motion explained that they simply wanted him to stick to the timeline in the 2019 agreement.
Robes, meanwhile, also reiterated that they can have sessions as long as there is a quorum.
“Under the Constitution and the House Rules, the House of Representatives can have a session as long as there is a quorum. The quorum is majority of the Members. Since 186 members were present [when they elected Velasco] or more than half of the current 299 Members of the House, there was a quorum and the session was valid,” she added.
Assuming there was a deviation from the House Rules during the election of Velasco, Robes also said Congress is separate branch of the government that can make its own rules.
“The Supreme Court has already spoken on a similar issue. In the case of Baguilat vs. Alvarez, the Supreme Court said that the House can always deviate from its own rules provided that the deviation is approved by the Majority. The election of Cong. Velasco as Speaker was approved by the majority of Members of the House. Therefore, it was a valid election,” she said.