Belmonte to Arroyo: Expect good fight for speakership

Expect good fight for speakership OF THE 15TH CONGRESS


This was the message Monday of Quezon City Mayor and incoming Congressman Feliciano Belmonte Jr. for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, congresswoman-elect of Pampanga's second district.

The two veterans in Philippine politics are expected to put up a fierce fight for the House speakership in the next Congress.

"We'll give a good fight," Belmonte said in an interview over GMA News' Unang Hirit, saying the Liberal Party is eyeing alliances with other parties to beat Mrs. Arroyo, the ruling Lakas Kampi CMD's bet for the post.

While the ruling party has 107 of the 265 House seats, Belmonte – a former House Speaker said "history is on the side of the LP" and pointed out there were cases in the past when ruling party congressmen shifted alliances to "the winning side."

LP standard bearer Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III is now being touted as the President-apparent for his lead of more than 5 million votes over closest rival, former President Joseph Estrada, in the partial and unofficial tally of the May 10 elections.

Belmonte said the LP and groups outside the party want him to lead the House, prompting him to start courting the support of several government officials for his speakership bid.

"I have to be frank and say, yes," Belmonte said when asked whether he has been gathering a support base for the looming fight in Congress.

Belmonte said it was easy for him to build political support because of his previous stint representing Quezon City's fourth district for three consecutive terms.

He had also met with officials before the May 10 elections to gather support for Aquino and his running mate Sen. Manuel "Mar" Roxas II.

"Itong pagiging mayor ko ng pinakamalaking lungsod ng bansa, andito pa maraming nakatira mga government officials dito sa Quezon City so it was relatively easy for me maka-connect sa mga tao (Being the mayor of the most populous city in the country, where many government officials live, it was relatively easy for me to connect to the people)," Belmonte added.

Deputy Speaker and Occidental Mindoro Rep. Ma. Amelita Villarosa, who resigned as Lakas-Kampi-CMD chairman to give way to Mrs. Arroyo, said that while she could not guarantee Mrs. Arroyo would bag the speakership, administration congressmen wanted no one else but the outgoing President to be the House Speaker.

Mrs. Arroyo initially did not even want to become the administration party's bet for the speakership but the party choose her, Villarosa claimed.

"Ang naging consensus, President GMA ang kandidato sa pagka-Speaker (The consensus was to field Mrs. Arroyo for Speaker)," Villarosa said in the same Unang Hirit interview.

"She didn't want it and told us to look for others, because she'd rather be from the outside and seeing how it goes, but some wanted GMA or nothing because they believed that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should be Speaker," Villarosa said.
Critics of the Arroyo administration allege Mrs. Arroyo was aiming for the speakership to lead Charter change moves in the House to amend the 1987 Constitution and change the form of government to parliamentary so she could be prime minister.

While she dismissed those allegations as "speculation," Villarosa could not guarantee Mrs. Arroyo would keep her hands off moves toward constitutional change in the 15th Congress.

"Ang alam namin focused ang presidente sa mga proyektong lalong magpapaunlad sa Pilipinas (What we know is the president is focused on projects that would advance the Philippines)," Villarosa said.

"We look up to her as our leader. Hindi natin alam kung anong mangyayari sa mga darating na araw (We do not know what will happen in the coming days)," she said. —VS, GMANews.TV