All is well that ends well with a “mano po” gesture at the House of Representatives.
Speaker Martin Romualdez bowed and placed the hand of former President and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo on his forehead — the traditional Filipino sign of respect for an elder — during Monday’s House plenary session.
The gesture drew applause from the lawmakers present at the plenary, dousing speculations that the two allies have parted ways after Arroyo was replaced as senior deputy speaker.
Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales, who replaced Arroyo as senior deputy speaker, did the same honorific gesture.
Before his oathtaking, Gonzales fetched Arroyo from her seat and asked her to join them at the rostrum with Romualdez.
The former President then joined her two colleagues at the rostrum where the Speaker administered Gonzales’ oath of office.
Romualdez and Arroyo are stalwarts of Lakas-CMD. The Speaker is its president while Arroyo is the party’s chairman-emeritus.
Gonzales, on the other hand, belongs to the former ruling party, PDP-Laban.
Gonzales’ election prompted Arroyo to issue a statement denying rumors that she was behind a move to unseat Romualdez as Speaker.
Earlier in the day, the 51-strong Visayan Bloc in the House expressed full support for Romualdez.
The bloc’s leader, Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez of Negros Occidental, said in a statement: “Speaker Romualdez has been a paragon of public service, demonstrating effective leadership through competence, diligence, and goodwill. We will continue to work with him to deliver on the President’s priority legislative agenda and uplift the lives of Filipinos.”
At least seven political blocs in the House – Lakas-CMD, the National Unity Party (NUP), the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), the Party-List Foundation Inc., (PCFI), PDP-Laban, the Nacionalista Party (NP), and the minority bloc – have all expressed support to the leadership of Romualdez.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday shrugged off insinuations that there is more to the movement at the House other than being “just a run of the mill” reorganization.
“I think we should be careful to not read too much into it,” he said in an interview.
“I really see it as just a run-of-the-mill that comes once in a while… If you’re in government long enough, you have seen many of these. In my time as congressman, I had two terms as congressman, I think it’s the third time we’ve been like this and this is just part of reorganization.”