MANILA, Philippines – Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said on Monday, November 26, that she does not want to punish lawmakers who will not vote in favor of President Rodrigo Duterte’s priority bills.

The Speaker touched on this when she answered a reporter’s question on whether or not she supports the House minority’s proposal to require Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno to attend a House session and be subjected to a “question hour” at the plenary.

Arroyo said she supports the proposal of the minority, as the bloc is exercising its oversight function on the proper implementation of the 2018 budget and the proposed P3.757-trillion budget for 2019. (READ: House minority ‘concerned’ 2019 budget to be used for May polls)

“What I tell the congressmen, this is free assembly with freedom of thought and freedom of action as long as you stay with the parliamentary rules…. If they want to have a question hour, it’s their call,” said Arroyo, who hosted a lunch for House reporters at the Speaker’s Social Hall on Monday.

To illustrate how there is “freedom of thought and freedom of action” in the House, Arroyo recalled the time when the bill seeking to replace quantitative restrictions on rice imports with the imposition of tariffs or taxes was up for a vote at the plenary.

The Pampanga 2nd District congresswoman said one of her close allies was concerned that if she votes against the rice tariffication bill, allocations for her district would be removed.

The Speaker said she did not stop her ally – whom she did not name – from voting against the measure, because the latter’s constituents were against the proposal.

“In fact, the tariffication of rice [is] one of President Duterte’s priorities so we passed it quickly. One of my close allies said, ‘I can’t vote on it, is it okay?’… She said she was afraid because she might have zero budget or lose her committee. It is a free country,” said Arroyo.

“Even when I was president, a few of my allies voted against E-VAT (expanded value-added tax) because their constituencies were very militant. As long as I have the majority when it passed. Why coerce?” said Arroyo.

It was a swipe against her predecessor Pantaleon Alvarez, who had stripped Arroyo and other lawmakers of leadership positions when they voted against the death penalty bill. Alvarez had also given zero allocations for the districts of opposition lawmakers in 2018.

A congressman, however, recalled in a Newsbreak story that Arroyo refused to release the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of lawmakers who did not vote in favor of administration bills. The PDAF was not yet struck down as unconstitutional during Arroyo’s presidency. 

The Newsbreak piece “Deals, pork behind impeach votes” details the inside story of how then-ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez was impeached under former president Benigno Aquino III, who was president after Arroyo.

In explaining how the House managed to deliver enough votes to impeach Gutierrez, a congressman told Newsbreak that many of them were “afraid of [a repeat] of the GMA experience” where those who went against the Palace’s wishes under Arroyo “got zero” pork barrel. – Rappler.com