HOUSE Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said Sunday a coalition agreement between the outgoing ruling Liberal Party and the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan may not materialize.
He said the LP will not allow its roster to be reduced to only 20 members, and because “in that case I cannot be a member of such group.”
He said this was the reason the LP’s negotiations to coalesce with PDP-Laban to create a super majority in the 17th Congress was stalled.
Belmonte is one of the LP’s vice chairmen while President Benigno Aquino III is its national chairman.
“If we can be at par with the other groups, then it’s a real option for me to be the head of the Liberal members who would like to form part of the coalition,” Belmonte said.
The LP has yet to sign a coalition agreement to form a super majority to be led by incoming Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez of Davao del Norte, a stalwart of PDP-Laban.
“There’s still a long way to go. We have not yet signed or come to any agreement with the majority group because there are various decisions [to be made],” Belmonte said.
“There’s one group wanting to reduce the number of Liberals to 20, which is way below the other groups.”
Belmonte did not identify the group wanting to reduce the LP’s membership. He earlier said at least 15 LP members would take a leave of absence from the ruling party immediately after President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s assumption into office on June 30 to oppose the coalition with PDP-Laban.
The PDP-Laban’s super majority is composed of the Nacionalista Party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition, the National Union Party and the 57 allied party-list groups.