MANILA, Philippines – The fireworks that put the House of Representatives on the edge of its seat began as a quiet spark on Wednesday, May 17.
The House was almost finished with its business for the day and the next expected act was to adjourn session for the rest of week, and then reconvene by Monday, May 22.
But at 7:40 pm, Deputy Majority Leader Lorenz Defensor (Iloilo 3rd District) of the National Unity Party walked to the podium and read the final agenda of the night.
This was the transcript on that moment:
Defensor: Mr. Speaker, I move to elect the honorable Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr., representative of the 3rd District of Pampanga, as senior deputy speaker, vice the honorable Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. I so move, Mr. Speaker.
Deputy Speaker Raymond Mendoza (TUCP): There’s a motion to elect… as stated. Is there an objection? Being none, motion is approved.
Defensor: Mr. Speaker, I move to elect the honorable Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, representative of the 2nd District of Pampanga, as deputy speaker, vice the position vacated by the newly elected senior deputy speaker Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr. I so move, Mr. Speaker.
Mendoza: There’s a motion, as stated by the majority leader. Is there any objection? Chair hears none. That motion is hereby approved.
The motion was made in a near-empty chamber, with only around 20 lawmakers physically present in the plenary hall, maybe less.
While there were 310 lawmakers who responded to the roll call, most of them were attending the session virtually, as allowed by the House rules that were recalibrated during the height of the pandemic.
Other lawmakers present in the plenary during the final minutes of Wednesday’s session based on the House feed were: deputy majority leader Ramon Nolasco Jr. (Cagayan 1st District), and assistant majority leaders Loreto Acharon (General Santos), Zia Alonto Adiong (Lanao del Sur 1st District), Bryan Revilla (Agimat), Wowo Fortes (Sorsogon 2nd District), and Anna Veloso-Tuazon (Leyte 3rd District).
Neither Arroyo nor Gonzales was present in the chamber when the post-switching materialized.
Even Speaker Martin Romualdez and Majority Leader Mannix Dalipe were not around when Arroyo’s demotion took immediate effect.
At 7:45 pm, Dalipe’s staff sent a statement via the Viber chat group for reporters, saying the move was meant to relieve Arroyo of her “heavy load,” even though the senior deputy speakership was a ceremonial title without extra responsibilities, based on the House rules.
At 9:49 pm, Arroyo issued her brief statement through her staff, saying: “It is the prerogative of the House.”
A day later, at 10:54 pm on Thursday, May 18, Arroyo sent the press a longer statement, denying that she was trying to engineer a coup against her longtime mentee. Before that, rumors swirled that the demotion was due to her involvement in an alleged ouster plot against Romualdez.
On Sunday, May 21, Romualdez broke his silence, saying: “There is still much work to do, so occasional moves to destabilize the House should be nipped in the bud.” – Rappler.com
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