leadermust
are with the coalesced Parties
By DJ YaP
6-qqe14veol!!Q
The next minoritY leader of the
House of Representatives should
rieither be an allY of the adminis -
hation nor "handpicked" bY the
ruling paty, an oPposition con-
gressman said on SundaY.
Newly reelected Albay ReP.
Edcel Lagman said incoming
House members should Pick a
minority leader who does not Edcel Lagman
belong to a party allied with the
Duterte administration.
'pirants for the speakership to
"A genuine mino tY leader
can only be assured if he or she
is neither a member or a Parti- candidate among themselves
san of the administration nor
handpicked bY the ruling major- being setected
in statement.
ity," he said a
Lagman, Ieader of the Magnif-
icent 7 oppositidn bloc and mem-
of Minority Leader
ber of the Liberal Party, urged as-
pick a comrnon administration
to
prevent the minority leader from
among the ranks of
the administlatiol
"Since the declared asPi-
rants, without any exception,
' Danilo iroted that the asPirants for
th€ administration, then they
s(ould agree among themselves
to, tield a common administra-
ri;n candidate." he said.
2nd hignest number ofvotes
.Some ol the candidates for
speaker include RePresenta-
tives-elect Pantaleon Alvarez ot
Davao det Norte, the former
Speaker; Lord Allan Velasco of
Marinduque; Martin Ro-
mualdez and LucY Torres-
Gomez of Leyte; Alan Peter
Cavetano of Taguig-Pateros'
ani Loren Legarda ofAntique.
Bv tradition, the minoritY
leader is the one who gets the
second highest number ofvotes
after the Speaker in an election'
But that was not the case in
the VthCongress.
-u p{gd -A'?',
suarez belonged to Lakas-
'
Christian Muslim Democrats
(Lakas-CMD) Party and was a
known ally of SPeaker Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo, who
led
Lakas-CMD until she toined the
ruling Partido Demokratiko
Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan in 2or8'
In 2o1o, Suarez was also des-
isnated as the minority leader
ulnder the speakership of Al-
vare4 even though a third candi-
date, Itugao ReP. Teddy Baguilat,
had received one vote more than
Suarez inthe electioL
Suarez and Arroyo are both
on their third and last term.
The 18th Congress opens in
luly, coinciding with the Presi-
dent's fourth State of the Nation
Address.
In his statement, Lagman
Speaker "all belong to the su-
permajority and manY of them
are even seeking the anoint-
ment of President Duterte."
Geiuine oPPositlon '
Thus, "a lone Duterte candi-
date for Speaker would foreclose
the eventuality of a losing ad-
ministratibn asPirant becoming
-minoritY
tfre maiority's leader,
an abenation which haPPened
in the 17th Congress," he said.
The minoritY leader, accord-
ing to Lagman, must "represent
the genuine oPposition in the
House: articutrate and Pursue djf-
furing views; act as a courageous i
sentinel ofthe people's rigbts and l
sentiments; and not be beholden
to the adminisEation nol an ad-
INQ
iunct.of the suPermaioritY."