Outgoing Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Monday confirmed that he will be part of the “super majority” coalition of the 17th Congress, leaving out an option for him to be the House Minority Leader.
“[I am] very likely [to join the super majority],” Belmonte, a vice chair of the ruling Liberal Party, said in a text message and confirmed a plan of his and some of his allies to join the super majority to be formed by incoming Speaker and Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, the personal choice of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to lead the House of Representatives and stalwart of Duterte’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
Belmonte also said that he would opt for the administration coalition in the House to secure juicy posts for his allies and not for himself being a former speaker.
He said that he wanted positions for his allies in the LP that will join the super majority, even as he denied being offered by Duterte allies to head the House committee on accounts under Alvarez.
“Never entered my mind to seek any position for myself. Always for the others,” Belmonte stressed.
But a House official who declined to be named, said that more than 100 of almost 120 LP member-congressmen who won in the last presidential polls will join the PDP-Laban.
“The camp of President-elect Duterte will not allow a coalition; the LP members will join the PDP-Laban if they want to be part of the super majority,” the source said.
This was confirmed by Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice, LP committee chair for electoral and political affairs, admitting that as many as 10 LP members will choose to be part of the minority and stay as LP “minority,” which includes him.
“I would prefer to be in the minority,” Erice, a close ally of former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas II, said.
While Erice did not name names, the source said that lawmakers who will stick with the LP in the 17th Congress include Deputy Speaker and Batanes Rep. Henedina Abad, wife of outgoing Budget Secretary Florencio Abad Jr.; Edcel Lagman of Albay, Teddy Baguilat of Ifugao, Arlene Bag-ao of Dinagat Islands and others LP lawmakers who are “very much” identified with outgoing President Benigno Aquino III.
Erice said his commitment to remain with the LP will ensure checks and balances in the Duterte administration.
“In the interest of checks and balances, it is very important that a responsible minority emerges instead of a cooperative minority,” Erice said.
But he said he could not tell yet if the remaining LP members will join the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) led by its president, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, who is aspiring for the House Minority Leader’s post.
The 17th Congress will convene on July 25 where Alvarez is expected to be elected as speaker.