TWO lawmakers on Monday exchanged barbs and tension gripped the House hearing after one of them questioned the continued chairmanship of the powerful committee on appropriations although he has reportedly abandoned the ruling Liberal Party and defected to the camp of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
1BAP Rep. Silvestro Bello III questioned Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab why he remains the chairman when he has already changed allegiance by shifting support for Duterte and resigning from the ruling Liberal Party.
Ungab denied leaving the LP and insisted it was up to the House leadership to replace him as chairman.
Ungab had to suspend the committee hearing several times to stop Bello from badgering him.
“The gentleman is out of order,” Ungab told Bello, who repeatedly argued he wanted to know why Ungab continued to hold the position when he was no longer backing the presidential bid of the LP’s standard bearer former Interior and Local Governments Secretary Mar Roxas II.
All major committees in the House are assigned to officers and members of the ruling party or allies of the administration belonging to the majority bloc, led by House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., vice chairman of the Liberals.
Bello belongs to the minority bloc and is representing the minority during the hearing as Deputy Minority Leader.
The Ungab panel was discussing several bills such as the Private-Public Property bill and the measure allowing the live coverage of the House proceedings, authored by Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza and other members of the Independent Minority Bloc led by Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, who is running for the Senate.
Voting 16-2, the panel approved the PPP bill and Atienza’s bill was also carried unanimously.
“It has been reported in the papers and television that the chairman of this committee [Ungab] has jumped ship and joined the camp of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte,” Bello said. “I want to know if there is a semblance of truth to that.”
“The gentleman is out of order. I hate to discuss politics in here. This is not the right venue to talk about politics. I don’t discuss politics with rude people. The committee does not entertain rude questions,” Ungab said as he banged the gavel to suspend the hearing for a few minutes.
Ungab neither confirmed nor denied reports that he was supporting Duterte’s presidential bid.
“Mr. chairman I’m asking a very valid question,” insisted Bello, who also hails from Davao and is supporting Duterte.
At present there is no order from the plenary where I was voted as chairman of the committee on appropriations. I hate to discuss politics here in the committee,” Ungab said.
Addressing Bello and the panel, Ungab said, “I did not resign from the LP. I was elected chairman of this committee by the House plenary. It is up to the plenary to replace me as chairman and elect a new one.”
“That is what I wanted to find out, Mr. Chairman. You are still the chairman. If it’s not true, fine,” Bello said.
Ungab has reportedly enlisted himself in the emerging bloc in the House of Representatives that will support Duterte’s bid to capture Malacañang this May.
Aside from being a top-level House leader, Ungab is considered a stalwart of the LP.
Ungab’s decision to support Duterte was apparent in his social media posts. His Facebook account was lately flooded with pro-Duterte news items.
Ungab’s reported defection to Duterte’s camp came just days after key Davao politicians announced their support for the Mayor.
Apart from Bello, all eyes are now focused on Dabawenyo House members who have not yet placed their names under the Duterte campaign, among them Davao City Second District Rep. Mylene Garcia-Albano, Gabriela Partylist Rep. and comebacking Davao City councilor Luz Ilagan, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate and A Teacher Partylist Rep. Mariano Piamonte.
Right before Ungab’s defection, it was Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario who came out in the open to announce his support for Duterte’s presidential bid.
Appearing in a video-taped interview, Del Rosario said he foresees more Mindanao leaders to support Duterte, effectively creating trouble of crisis-like proportion for LP and Roxas.
Del Rosario is the provincial chairman of LP for Davao del Norte. His son, Anthony, is the incumbent congressman for District 1 of Davao del Norte.
The Duterte camp already announced that it already secured the support of comebacking Davao del Norte Second District congressman Antonio “Tonyboy” Floirendo, Jr., considered as Davao’s “banana king.”
Floirendo was originally identified with Vice President Jejomar Binay, one of Duterte’s rivals in the presidential race.
Davao City First District Rep. Karlo Nograles was the first Davao congressman to stake his lot for Duterte.
Running unopposed, Nograles already indicated his support for Duterte even before the filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) October 12 to 16.
Duterte said he did not field an opponent for Nograles because he was a nephew.
After 30 years of political bickering, Duterte and Nograles’ father, former House Speaker Prospero Nograles, finally buried the hatchet and joined forces for this election.
When Duterte opted to file a COC for mayor last October 16, Nograles still refused to manifest support for any other presidential candidate.
He said he remained hopeful that Duterte would run for president.
Last November 27, as Duterte eventually filed his COC for president through substitution, Nograles showed up in the Mayor’s dinner gathering attended by journalists from all over the country. Nograles is now believed as the emerging leader of the “Duterte bloc” in the House of Representatives.