Tonyboy Floirendo seeking House Speakership

Pia Ranada

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Tonyboy Floirendo seeking House Speakership
Floirendo, a major contributor to President Duterte's 2016 campaign, and nemesis of ousted House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, wants to be Speaker of the 18th Congress

MANILA, Philippines – Another ally and campaign financer of President Rodrigo Duterte, Davao del Norte 2nd District Representative Antonio “Tonyboy” Floirendo Jr, is vying for the House Speakership.

Floirendo announced this on Facebook on Monday, April 8.

“I have decided to join the fray not for my own political ambitions but to ensure that President Rodrigo Duterte gets a solid support from the House leadership,” he said on the “Serbisyo Una” Facebook account.

“I want to unite the Lower House in fully backing the Duterte administration [to] realize its dreams for the Filipino people in the 3 remaining years,” he added.

Floirendo is a major contributor to Duterte’s 2016 presidential campaign. He donated P75 million, the biggest amount that came from a single donor.

Floirendo said he met with “some very important personalities of the land” on Sunday night to discuss the midterm elections and the last half of the Duterte presidency.

Around this time, his Speakership bid was also announced by Malacañang. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo began his Monday press briefing by saying Floirendo had confirmed to him his plans.

But asked if the announcement meant Duterte was backing any particular lawmaker for Speaker, Panelo said the President will leave it to the House members to decide.

“The Palace never intrudes in other branches…He allows everybody to seek whatever position they want and let the constituency of that class decide,” said the Duterte spokesman.

Many others seeking Speakership

Talk of a new Speaker is rife because House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is on her last term as Pampanga 2nd District Representative. Her term ends this year.

Duterte himself has expressed public support for the speakership bid of Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco, a family friend of his. His daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, has also openly supported Velasco’s bid.

But Sara has also referred to former Leyte representative Martin Romualdez as the “next Speaker.” Romualdez is running for Leyte 1st District representative in the upcoming May elections.

Former foreign secretary Alan Peter Cayetano has also claimed that President Duterte supports his bid to be Speaker.

Floirendo, in his statement, likewise claimed that ousted speaker Pantaleon Alvarez wants to reclaim the post.

Apart from Velasco, Romualdez, Cayetano, and supposedly Alvarez, Duterte’s national political party PDP-Laban is grooming 6 others to become Speaker.

They are the following:

  • Ronald Zamora (San Juan)
  • Alex Advincula (3rd District, Cavite)
  • Bambol Tolentino (7th District, Cavite)
  • Ricky Sandoval (Malabon)
  • Lucy Torres (4th District, Leyte)
  • Aurelio Gonzales Jr (3rd District, Pampanga)

Floirendo said he himself had “emphatically” endorsed Alvarez as speaker before and that his speakership bid is his way to “correct” this “big mistake.”

Floirendo and Alvarez are now foes after the former speaker accused Floirendo of graft over an allegedly anomalous deal between the government and the latter’s company, Tagum Agricultural Development Company (Tadeco).

The complaint led then-ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to charge Floirendo for violating a constitutional prohibition on public officials having a direct interest in government projects.

The Sandiganbayan issued an arrest warrant against Floirendo back in February 2018, after which he immediately posted bail. – Rappler.com

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Pia Ranada

Pia Ranada is Rappler’s Community Lead, in charge of linking our journalism with communities for impact.