The Lagman-led opposition group in the House of Representatives on Tuesday protested the supposed appointment of ABS Party-list Rep. Eugene de Vera as acting minority leader.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said De Vera’s appointment was illegal because of the absence of a provision in the House rules on succession.
“In the rules of the House, there is no provision on the succession of the majority leadership and minority leadership,” Lagman told reporters.
He made his statement even as former Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas said De Vera should be recognized by the House leadership as the acting minority leader.
The House rules provide that the lawmakers who did not vote for a winning candidate for the speakership will automatically be part of the minority group.
In Monday’s plenary session, Fariñas said De Vera, a House deputy minority leader, was the only high-ranking member of the House minority bloc of Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, who did not vote for the election of Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Fariñas said all the other high-ranking members of the Suarez-led minority bloc, including then-Minority Leader Danilo Suarez, Senior Deputy Minority Leader Lito Atienza, and Deputy Minority Leader Alfredo Garbin voted for Arroyo’s election.
And so De Vera, being the next highest-ranking officer of the minority group, temporarily takes the position of Suarez.
“All these three went to the minority, so it’s very clear that the minority leader position was not vacated. He [Suarez] abandoned his office by joining the majority. Eugene de Vera is acting, if not the minority leader, by the operation of the law,” Fariñas said.
The others who did not support Arroyo’s election to the speakership and would want to be part of the Suarez-led minority group may apply to De Vera, including the group of Liberal Party congressmen led by Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo, Fariñas said.
This developed as Dinagat Islands Rep. Kaka Bag-ao, an LP member in the House, said Quimbo’s group was growing with the inclusion of Rep. Emmanuel Billones of Capiz and Rep. Vicente Alcala of Quezon in their group.
Bag-ao said Billones and Alcala had applied and had been accepted into the Quimbo-led group.
“This further proves our legitimacy in the House, and shows that this new minority is one that is worthy of the promise of democracy to our people,” Bag-ao said.
“I am certain that more of our colleagues will express their intention to join us.””‹