Thursday, June 07, 2007 Opposition claims ploy to ruin ranks By Danilo V. Adorador III
CALLING the House leadership row between pro-administration stalwarts a sham, opposition lawmakers in the House slammed what they said was a ploy to relegate them from the minority block.
In a caucus Wednesday, 26 opposition congressmen "condemned in the strongest terms the Malacañang ploy to remove the genuine opposition from the House" -- by installing a minority group sympathetic to the Palace, said Cagayan de Oro Congressman-elect Rufus Rodriguez.
Under section 7 of the House Rules, Rodriguez said the second placer in the speakership contest automatically becomes the minority leader.
Since the top-tier contenders for House speakership--incumbent Speaker Jose de Venecia and Cebu Representative-elect Pablo Garcia--are both administration supporters, Malacañang is assured of an ally in the minority group, said Rodriguez.
Losing the minority status, opposition lawmakers will then be ostracized and rendered ineffective from its traditional "check and balance" role, he said.
"We will become voiceless in issues of great importance such as the Charter change, and we may not be able to set in motion the impeachment charges against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo," Rodriguez said, adding such scenario "will destroy the independence and the integrity of Congress."
But while impeachment was on the table, the Cagayan de Oro lawmaker-elect said this was not their priority as of the moment.
"We are still consolidating and checking our numbers, as we have received feelers from disgruntled pro-administration congressmen expressing their interest to join the opposition," Rodriguez said.
Negotiations, he said, are being held with about 20 administration lawmakers "who feel that they can't work with the majority anymore."
The opposition hopes to boost their number with the entry of independent lawmakers and party-list representatives that have been traditionally aligned with the opposition, Rodriguez said.
Further, Wednesday's caucus did not resolve the leadership question in the opposition block, as opposition lawmakers had not yet decided who among Rodriguez, Representatives Carlos Padilla, Ronaldo Zamora, and Salvador Escudero will run as Speaker.
Rodriguez said the minority leadership will be known next week.
Meanwhile, dissent among administration followers appeared to have developed in the Lakas-Kampi rivalry, as Sorsogon Representative Jose Solis called on Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno to stop committing the entire membership of the party into supporting de Venecia's new bid for the House leadership.
Solis said Puno, president of Kampi, should have consulted them before making an outright pronouncement endorsing the bid of de Venecia in the incoming 14th Congress, which will open on July 23.
Puno's support for de Venecia appeared to have contradicted Camarines Sur Representative Luis Villafuerte's announcement that 41 of their members, along with at least 23 others from other administration-affiliate parties, are backing Garcia of Cebu.
