The House of Representatives on Wednesday elected Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. as Senior Deputy Speaker, replacing former President and provincemate Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Arroyo welcomed Gonzales’s election to replace her, saying in a terse statement: “It’s the prerogative of the House.”
Iloilo Rep. Lorenz Defensor made the motion to replace Arroyo, who represents Pampanga’s 2nd District, in the plenary session. The move effectively removes the “senior” from Arroyo’s Deputy Speaker title.
Deputy Speaker Democrito Mendoza, who presided over the session, approved the motion after hearing no objection.
In a statement, Majority Leader and Zamboanga City Rep. Mannix Dalipe said Gonzales’ appointment was “to unburden his cabalen, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, of the heavy load required from the position.”
As of press time, Defensor and Gonzales had yet to issue statements on why the replacement was made, considering the political clout of Arroyo — who not only is a former Chief Executive but the country’s first woman House Speaker and Senator as well.
Gonzales – one of the nine Deputy Speakers of the current House — thus assumed the position of Arroyo, who was elected as Senior Deputy Speaker a few weeks after the opening of the First Regular Session of the 19th Congress last year.
“Mr. Speaker, I move to elect the honorable Aurelio ‘Dong’ Gonzales Jr., representative of the third district of Pampanga as senior Deputy Speaker vice the honorable Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,” Defensor said in plenary.
“I move to elect the honorable Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as representative of the second district of Pampanga as Deputy Speaker vice the position vacated by the newly-elected Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio ‘Dong’ Gonzales Jr.,” Defensor added.