SPECULATION is rife that members of the House of Representatives are plotting a coup against Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas even as a Mindanao lawmaker downplayed the ouster plot.
Several lawmakers who requested anonymity said efforts to replace Alvarez and Fariñas are expected to gain traction with the belated birthday party for President Rodrigo Duterte being organized by Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco on Thursday at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza.
Duterte earlier celebrated his 73rd birthday on March 28 in Davao City.
Apart from Velasco, who is a close ally of the President, lawmakers were also reportedly looking at Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr. as possible contenders for House Speaker.
Both Arroyo and Floirendo have strained relations with Alvarez–the former was stripped of her post as deputy speaker for Central Luzon after voting against the death penalty bill while the latter was slapped with a graft case over a controversial joint venture agreement between the Bureau of Corrections and the Tagum Agricultural Development Co.
One of the sources said that if only Floirendo released funds before Congress adjourned on March 23, Alvarez could have already been ousted.
“If only Tonyboy released cash to fund the move, a new Speaker would have been installed at the last day of the session [March 23],” the source said.
Under the rules of the lower chamber, a motion to declare all seats vacant can be raised at any time on the floor by a member of the House.
Both Alvarez and Fariñas did not reply when asked to comment on the issue.
For his part, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Maximo Rodriguez Jr. said the supposed ouster plot is bound to fail if there ever was one.
“I doubt that will succeed because Speaker Alvarez is still very strong. He has the support from us. We’re solid for him,” he said.
“That [leadership change] is always the talk whenever there is an upcoming State of the Nation Address (in June) because supposed to be, there should be an election of the Speaker and the Majority Leader. People are interested in that. But for now, for us Mindanaoans, we trust Speaker Alvarez,” Rodriguez said.
In February, the President’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio tore into Alvarez after she heard that he had accused her of being part of the political opposition in creating a regional party called the Hugpong ng Pagbabago.
“If you’re an asshole in Congress, don’t bring that to Davao. Leave it in Manila,” the mayor said. “Somebody should tell the President what you are doing. How dare you call me part of the opposition. Kapal ng mukha mo. You messed with the wrong girl.”
She also said the “country would be a better country if Alvarez [were] not the speaker” and that “the President would be a stronger President” if Alvarez was not with him.
She urged her father’s allies to remove Alvarez.
“I said that the members of Congress should not keep quiet because somebody should tell the President about the truth of what is happening in Congress. And I said that it is within their power to change the House speaker since I am not a member of the Congress,” Duterte-Carpio said.