OPPOSITION lawmakers on Thursday warned Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez that he was bringing the House down with his policy to punish allies who vote against the death penalty bill.
Earlier this week, a congressional source said Alvarez’s policy to sanction House leaders who vote against the bill was aimed at neutralizing former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who abolished the death penalty when she was president.
The source said Alvarez did not aim to sideline Liberal Party congressmen, but to neutralize the group of Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr. who was pushing to install Arroyo as speaker.
Signs of a falling out between Alvarez and Arroyo first appeared last December, when the former president denied rumors that she was being groomed to replace Alvarez.
Akbayan party-list Rep. Tom Villarin said whether the sanctions are directed at Arroyo or other House leaders, the threats against legislators would boomerang on Alvarez eventually.
“It was [Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo]’s legacy and her shining moment in an otherwise highly unpopular rule. He [Alvarez] just wanted to show who’s the boss in a very mafia-like way,” Villarin said.
Buhay party-list Lito Atienza also raised concern over the report that Alvarez would want to get rid of Arroyo and so he has imposed a policy against administration allies who will not toe the line.
“I hope not. The former president is the most effective deputy speaker we have and her removal… for following her conscience on the issue of the death penalty bill is unthinkable,” Atienza said.
He said Arroyo’s removal from her post would be a loss for the 17th Congress.
Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, for his part, doubted that Alvarez is after Arroyo.
“I don’t think the Speaker will do that,” Suarez said.
Suarez said he was able to talk to Alvarez about his reasons for imposing the party policy against anti-death penalty lawmaker.
“The Speaker said it was a priority legislation of the President,” he said.
The House will vote on the death penalty bill on third and final reading either on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Thursday urged his colleagues to keep politics to a minimum after this week’s shakeup in which Liberal Party senators lost their key posts.
Pimentel said the reorganization would make for a more efficient Senate, where the line between the majority and the minority is clearly drawn.
Despite the shakeup, Pimentel said, LP senators were left with one committee chairmanship each. Senator Franklin Drilon, who was ousted as Senate President Pro Tempore, remains chairman of the committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes.
He said the LP senators and the other members of the minority—Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and detained Senator Leila de Lima have not been deprived of committee chairmanships.
Pimentel said some senators, even without proof, have been relentless in criticizing President Rodrigo Duterte during plenary sessions. He reminded the senators that the session should be used to debate on priority legislation like free tuition for students, free irrigation, and income tax reform.
“Let’s stop the reckless criticism made without proof, calling [the President] a psychopathic serial killer,” he said.
Both Trillanes and De Lima have publicly referred to Duterte as the country’s No. 1 criminal, a killer and a mass murderer.
Pimentel also said most of the majority bloc members felt work had been hampered in the past months because of differences with the LP senators.
Senator Francis Pangilinan, however, dismissed Pimentel’s claim, saying that Senate records showed that of the 29 bills or committee reports being tacked on second reading on the floor, 20 or two-third were bills being defended by the LP, Trillanes or Senator Risa Hontiveros.
Furthermore, Pangilinan said that while they were part of the majority coalition and supported a number of initiatives of the government, they did not shirk from what they believed to be our constitutional duty and responsibility to oppose policies and pronouncements they believed to be inimical to the national interest.