Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio 鈥淒ong鈥� Gonzales Jr., HREP photo.
MANILA, Philippines聽鈥� Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. has disputed assertions from fellow Deputy Speaker Vincent 鈥淒uke鈥� Frasco about the House of Representatives needing a unifying leadership, noting that the chamber is already united.
Furthermore, Gonzales said on Monday that lawmakers from Visayas and Mindanao are happy with House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez鈥檚 leadership 鈥� contrary to Frasco鈥檚 claims.
Frasco earlier said that he refused to sign the manifesto of support for Romualdez after talking to different local leaders from Visayas and Mindanao, who were supposedly disappointed with the House leadership.
鈥淲hy, isn鈥檛 the current Congress united?聽 The Congress is united, I am not seeing any division because of the leadership of our Speaker, Speaker Martin Romualdez.聽 The mere fact that 285 members for the 20th Congress signed the document, it is a manifestation that they really prefer the leadership of the sitting speaker.聽 It鈥檚 that simple,鈥� Gonzales, speaking in mixed Filipino and English, said in an interview.
READ: NUP expels Duke Frasco for not supporting Romualdez, says Villafuerte
鈥淎ll Congress persons in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao are all happy.聽 They are all happy, I have not heard of any issue about the leadership of Speaker Martin.聽 So, I am also confused, because we have the Mindanaoan lawmakers coming to our offices, when we visit Visayas, they are thankful,鈥� he added.
According to Gonzales, he did not feel any inclination from Frasco that the latter would no longer support Romualdez, noting that he has not talked to the deputy speaker since Congress went into break for the election.
The manifesto of support, Gonzales said, was discussed with the National Unity Party (NUP) leadership and not individual members.
鈥淩egarding the statement of Duke Frasco, of the Deputy Speaker,聽we are both deputy speakers as I am the Senior Deputy Speaker, he is always there presiding over the session, we have the schedule to preside, we are doing this and we do not know why we have this kind of issues,鈥� Gonzales said.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know, I haven鈥檛 been able to talk to him right after our long break, election break.聽 I didn鈥檛 know that he did not sign, because it was the NUP party whom we were talking to, headed by the chairman, the president.聽 So, meaning to say,聽there is a direction聽from the chairman and the president,聽of course,聽the members,鈥� he added.
Over the weekend, it was revealed that Frasco has been expelled from NUP.聽 It was NUP president and Camarines Sur 2nd District Rep. LRay Villafuerte who made the announcement, adding that party is expelling Frasco for 鈥渃ontravening the party鈥檚 official position to support Romualdez.鈥�
NUP is one of the political parties belonging to the super majority coalition that is backing Romualdez to remain at the helm of the lower chamber in the next Congress.
Earlier, Villafuerte claimed that Frasco is just using his criticism of Romualdez as a bargaining chip to keep his deputy speaker post into the 20th Congress 鈥� allegedly arm-twisting Romualdez so that he will still stay as a House official.
鈥淒uke seems to be the one advancing his own selfish personal and partisan interests,鈥� Villafuerte claimed.聽 鈥淔rasco has slighted the official NUP position of support for聽Congressman Martin as a shrewd political ploy to arm-twist the Speaker into keeping him as Deputy Speaker in the incoming Congress,鈥�
鈥淒uke was expelled last week for sowing disunity and discord himself in making his unilateral move to withdraw support from Congressman Martin in blatant contravention of the NUP鈥檚 unanimous support for the Speaker to keep his post in the next Congress鈥攁nd without first consulting our party,鈥� Villafuerte said.
Aside from this, Villafuerte also noted that it is not Romualdez, but Frasco who is sowing discord as the House lawmakers have been standing behind the Speaker, and another possible stint in the 20th Congress.
Gonzales is not the first Deputy Speaker who spoke out on Frasco鈥檚 statement.聽 Earlier too, Deputy Speaker David Suarez said that if Frasco is looking for unity, then the support that Romualdez got through the same manifesto that he refused to sign is enough proof.
According to Suarez, 285 members of the House have signed the manifesto as of today.
Last May 25, Suarez announced that there is a wide coalition backing Romualdez鈥檚 leadership, effectively creating a supermajority.
Aside from NUP and Romualdez鈥檚 party Lakas-CMD, Suarez said the supermajority bloc consists of the Nacionalista Party, the Nationalist People鈥檚 Coalition, Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, the Party-list Coalition Foundation Inc, and some members of the Liberal Party.
READ: Majority of LP members now part of House鈥檚 supermajority bloc聽
This new supermajority, Suarez said, shows that President Marcos鈥� call for unity still stands./mr