Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Friday shrugged off the decision of the seven members of the so-called Makabayan Bloc to severe their ties with the pro-administration coalition in the House of Representatives.
Alvarez said every House member is free to choose whether he or she wants to be a part of the majority or the minority bloc.
“We have no problem with that. We do not force any member of the House to be part of the majority coalition, or if they wish to be a member of the minority bloc,” Alvarez said in an interview.
Alvarez added that joining the majority coalition is not compulsory..
“Anyone who can help in the legislative agenda of the President is welcome,” Alvarez said. “But anybody who feels he or she cannot help promote the legislative agenda of the President is free to leave the coalition,” he said.
Since they bolted the majority coalition, Alvarez said members of the Makabayan Bloc, namely Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro of the ACT Teachers Party-List, Emmi de Jesus and Arlene Brosas of ACT Teachers, Carlos Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna, Ariel Casilao of Anakpawis and Sarah Elago of Kabataan, will now be considered as opposition members.
Tinio, Zarate and De Jesus were among the lawmakers allied with the majority bloc who were stripped off their posts for not supporting the death penalty bill.
Tinio then led the House committee on public information, Zarate was head of the House committee on environment and natural resources, and De Jesus was head of the poverty alleviation committee.
The lawmakers said they had decided to join the majority bloc in support of President Duterte and his administration’s “promise of change.”
