UNITED Nationalist Alliance (UNA) Rep. Danilo E. Suarez of Quezon was elected on Wednesday as new minority leader of the House of Representatives.
Suarez was voted by 22 members of the minority. Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Ma. Lourdes D. Aggabao of Isabela, Party-list Rep. Rodel M. Batocabe of Ako Bicol and Party-list Rep. Sharon S. Garin abstained from voting.
Suarez was elected despite the claim of Liberal Party Rep. Teodoro B. Baguilat Jr. of Ifugao that he is the real minority leader because he placed second to Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez in the speakership election on Monday. Baguilat garnered eight votes, while Suarez got seven.
In the past Congresses, the candidate who got the second-highest number of votes was automatically the minority leader.
Seventeen of the 22 lawmakers who voted in favor of Suarez voted to abstain during the speakership election.
After abstaining from voting for Alvarez, the 20 “majority” allies conspired with alacrity in electing a “minority leader,” said Liberal Party Rep. Edcel B. Lagman of Albay, who voted Baguilat for speakership.
“Pretending to be minority members, they replaced Rep. Baguilat as minority leader, even as the Ifugao solon garnered the second-highest number of votes in the Speakership fight and bested Rep. Suarez,” he added.
Lagman said the tradition in the House is that the runner-up in the election for Speaker automatically becomes the minority leader and there was no need for minority members to elect the minority leader when there was a clear-cut winner for said position.
“The said 20 representatives have coalesced with the supermajority and/or affiliated with the coalition partners, and as majority allies, they cannot choose a minority leader,” he added.
After abstaining, he said the 20 lawmakers were considered independent members of the House for not being aligned either with the majority or minority as provided for in the last paragraph of Section 8, Rule 2 of the Rules of the House, which unequivocally provides: “Members who choose not to align themselves with the Majority or the Minority shall be considered as independent Members of the House.”
“Rep. Suarez cannot aspire for or be minority leader because, after voting for Speaker Alvarez, he was considered to belong to the majority. Again, Section 8, Rule 2 of the Rules of the House provides that ‘members who vote for the winning candidate for Speaker shall constitute the Majority in the House,’” Lagman said.
“The tradition in the House is that the clear runner-up in the contest for Speaker becomes the minority leader and this is Rep. Baguilat Jr. who garnered eight votes over Rep. Suarez who got only seven votes, after the runaway winner, Speaker Alvarez, who had 252 votes,” he said.