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LAKAS
Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. of Pangasinan was elected
Monday for an unprecedented fifth consecutive term as
Speaker in an election marred by heated debates and
nearly left the opening of the 14th Congress Speakerless.
The
Senate, in an orderly manner, elected Sen. Manuel Villar
as its president.
The
expected neck and neck battle between de Venecia and
Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) Rep. Pablo Garcia
of
Cebu did not take place as the latter’s camp decided not to enter
his nomination, saying the election procedure was a
sham.
After de
Venecia was nominated by Lakas Rep. Antonio Cuenco of
Cebu, seconded by Lakas Rep. Sharee Ann Tan of Western
Samar, Garcia’s staunch supporter and campaign manager
Kampi Rep. Luis Villafuerte of Camarines Sur took the
floor and asked what rules to adopt in electing the
Speaker.
Villafuerte’s move was overruled as Lakas Rep. Matias
Defensor of Quezon City, acting as majority leader, said
that it has been observed in the past that the rules of
the previous Congress are adopted by the new Congress.
The
voting proceeded with de Venecia garnering 159 roll-call
votes. He became the only nominee from the majority
coalition after the challenge of Garcia’s camp did not
materialize in the session that began at
10 a.m. and wound up at
2:49
p.m.
Villafuerte said the whole exercise was irregular.
“Kampi
decided not to nominate because the election procedure
is a sham,” Villafuerte told reporters.
Kampi,
led by Villafuerte, was pushing for secret balloting as
the way of electing the Speaker, a challenge repeatedly
turned down by de Venecia’s camp.
He said
the party would hold a meeting to discuss its next move.
Although
he won unopposed, de Venecia’s camp said Garcia was the
biggest challenge to the Speaker’s leadership.
De
Venecia extended the hand of reconciliation and
friendship to Garcia moments after being sworn in as
Speaker.
Garcia
did not issue a statement and just left Villafuerte to
do the talking.
The
election of Speaker could have been resolved earlier had
it not been for the question on the authority of House
Secretary-General Roberto Nazareno to sit as presiding
officer raised by Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) Rep.
Didagen Dilangalen of Shariff Kabunsuan.
The
comebacking Dilangalen raised the question that the 13th
Congress elected Nazareno and that his term as
secretary-general was coterminus with the House Speaker.
The
debate went on for more than four hours, further
delaying the election of the Speaker.
Just
like in the past, Dilangalen engaged several congressmen
in heated debates to the point that even if he was
already declared out of order several times, he did not
yield the floor.
This
prompted Defensor to move for the ejection of Dilangalen
from the session hall.
Following the order from Nazareno, the House sergeant at
arms took out the mace, the seal of the House of
Representatives, and brought it near Dilangalen,
signifying that he will be ejected from the session hall
if he kept talking.
However,
the mace did not reach Dilangalen as several opposition
congressmen led by independent Rep. Roilo Golez blocked
the sergeant’s path, preventing his ejection.
The
debate was so intense that several congressmen already
lost hope that the House could elect its Speaker.
However,
after more than four hours, the issue raised by
Dilangalen was finally resolved through a viva voce
voting retaining Nazareno as acting presiding officer.
PMP Rep.
Ronaldo Zamora of
San Juan,
who was not even nominated in the contest for Speaker,
became the minority leader upon the manifestation of PMP-United
Opposition Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro on
behalf of the members of the minority.
Meanwhile, proadministration and opposition senators
reinstalled Villar as Senate president, and his lone
challenger for the post, veteran Sen. Aquilino Pimentel
Jr., as Senate minority leader when the 14th Congress
convened Monday morning.
In
contrast to the tumultuous and bruising battle for the
speakership in the House of Representatives, the
senators soberly settled the leadership contest between
rival factions backing Villar and Pimentel before a
jampacked gallery that included former senators and
members of the diplomatic corps.
Following tradition, Pimentel joined eight
administration, four opposition and two independent
senators in voting for Villar. In turn, Villar, along
with six opposition senators, voted for Pimentel in a
15-7 vote that enabled Villar to retain the Senate
presidency.
After
installing Senate President Villar, the senators
proceeded to unanimously install Pimentel as minority
leader, as well as other officers of the chamber,
including new Senate President pro tempore Jinggoy
Estrada and Francis Pangilinan as majority leader.
Before
the opening session adjourned, Pimentel introduced a
resolution signed by at least 18 senators expressing the
sense of the Senate that their detained fellow Sen.
Antonio Trillanes be allowed to participate in the
succeeding sessions and other functions of the chamber.
Villar
confirmed that he asked for one more week to finalize
the committee chairmanships that insiders see as a way
of reunifying feuding factions in the Senate, if handled
properly.
Villar
admitted it is too early to say which senator will chair
what committee. “Kakausapin ko muna sila isa-isa
. . . I am not the only one [who] will decide the
committee chairmanships pero maganda naman ang takbo
[ng usapan].”
In his
acceptance speech, Villar vowed to pursue the mandate of
the Filipino people expressed in the May 14 elections,
where opposition senators won majority of the seats at
stake in the midterm polls, and asked his fellow
senators to rise above their political differences and
reexamine the agenda of national development.
“The
recently concluded senatorial elections only emphasized
the Senate’s crucial role in the balance of power among
its coequal branches of government,” Villar said, adding
that “the overwhelming consensus was that the Philippine
Senate must maintain its institutional independence,
beholden to no political power but to the sovereignty of
the Filipino people.
“No less
than the will of the people validated this.” |
