Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday vowed to ensure the passage of priority measures of the Duterte administration.
Arroyo made the statement a day after she was elected to the chamber’s highest post.
“I am extremely honored to have been supported by my colleagues at the House of Representatives to be their new Speaker,” Arroyo said in a statement.
She vowed to push for the legislative agenda of the President in the House.
Arroyo was elected Speaker by a vote of 184 -12, replacing Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, who absented himself during the session called after the President’s State of the Nation Address.
A total of 238 lawmakers attended the evening session. Others were out of the session hall when the vote was conducted.
President Rodrigo Duterte’s address was delayed by more than an hour as he met Alvarez and Arroyo separately over the leadership row.
Arroyo, chairman-emeritus of Lakas-CMD, joined the President’s political party, Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino, in October 2017.
“My joining the PDP-Laban is to consolidate support for the President. It is a matter of course as we have been talking about this for quite sometime,” she said.
Arroyo took her oath then before Alvarez, who removed her from her post as deputy speaker for voting against the death penalty bill.
Some senators expressed misgivings at Arroyo’s election.
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who launched a coup attempt against Arroyo when she was president and who was jailed afterward, said she was the face of corruption when she was in power.
A vocal critic of Mr. Duterte, Trillanes said she was unable to rehabilitate herself from several corruption scandals during her administration, including accusations of massive cheating during the 2004 elections.
The Aquino administration had detained her on several charges during most of its term, but the Supreme Court eventually acquitted her of plunder over the alleged misuse of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds, less than a month after Duterte took office.
Trillanes said he believed Arroyo’s speakership would ultimately weaken Duterte’s presidency as their interests are not always aligned.
“Their interest are not the same. Duterte’s interest is to prolong his stay in power. GMA’s [Arroyo’s] interest is to reclaim power. That’s diametrically opposed. At some point, it will clash,” he said.
Senator JV Ejercito, son of ousted President Joseph Estrada who was replaced by Arroyo, also expressed reservations.
While choosing Arroyo as Speaker was the call of the House, Ejercito said he considers her “excess baggage” in the Duterte administration’s anti-corruption campaign.
“There are ongoing cases against the former president and now congresswoman, so that doesn’t look good,” Ejercito said in a mix of Filipino and English.
On Tuesday, the President’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio congratulated Arroyo.
“Congratulations to SPGMA. A strong leader,” Duterte-Carpio said in a brief statement.
In February, the mayor called Alvarez an “insecure fat sleaze” for saying she was part of the opposition after she established a separate regional party. He later denied having said this.
The Palace said it was eager to work wth the chosen leader of the House and vowed not to interfere with Congress’ internal affairs.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said that it has always been the Palace position not to interfere in purely internal matters of the House.
“We are ready to work with the chosen leader of the House of Representatives. Now that Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is the House Speaker, we are of course able and ready to work with Speaker Arroyo,” said Roque.
“We have had very good relations with Speaker Arroyo. She was one of the staunchest supporters of the President during the elections,” he added, noting that the President and the Pampanga representative share the same political agenda. “We foresee absolutely no problems in working with Speaker Arroyo.”
He added: “Whatever the decision of the House is, the Palace has always been amenable to accepting the choice of leadership. In other words, the President, being a lawyer, really observes the principle of separation of powers and has accorded the House full respect particularly in its choice for its leaders.”
Duterte calls Mrs. Arroyo as “ma’am” and claims to owe her “a lot.” The President also revealed he was a close confidant of Arroyo when she was president.
Duterte also has similarities with Arroyo on some key policy issues. They both declared martial law in parts of Mindanao, befriended China, and reformed the country’s tax laws.
The two, however, differ on Duterte’s move to reinstate the death penalty.
In the aftermath of the House leadership shakeup, House appropriations chairman Karlo Nograles on Tuesday disclosed that a transition team has already been formed by the new Speaker’s camp.
In an interview, Nograles said the transition team is composed of Deputy Speakers Raneo Abu, Fredenil Castro, Miro Quimbo, Iloilo Rep. Arthur Defensor Jr. and Bohol Rep. Arthur Yap.
“If we have the majority of the House of Representatives supporting a new Speaker, and the new Speaker is supportive of the present administration, then, whatever President Duterte said in his Sona, the members of the House of Representatives will support,” Nograles said.
In his Sona, Duterte called on Congress to speed up the passage of social welfare measures, as well as bills seeking to help augment government coffers for the delivery of social services.
Among the measures the Chief Executive mentioned in his speech was the Universal Health Care Bill, which the House has already approved on third and final reading. It is still pending, however, at the Senate.
Duterte also said he intends to sign the second part of his tax reform package within the year.
A lawmaker on Tuesday said Alvarez seems to have accepted his fate.
“He [Alvarez] looks composed, and I guess everything has already dawned on him,” said Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, who met with Alvarez Tuesday morning to assess their status in the House.
“He may have realized that [Arroyo] has the numbers,” Umali, who used to be an Arroyo lieutenant, said.
Umali could not tell, however, if Alvarez has acknowledged the legality of Arroyo’s speakership.
Umali and Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said they decided to join the minority bloc with Alvarez.
At the same time, Umali said his group is eyeing the possibility of questioning the legitimacy of Arroyo’s election as Speaker.
“We are still discussing it, but there is no decision as to what to do. It is just a matter of accepting reality,” Umali said.
But Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, an Arroyo ally, said the election of Arroyo was “valid, legal and binding.” With Macon Ramos-Araneta