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Sunday, July 22, 2007
Arroyo ditches pre-Sona meet
By Linette C. Ramos With Minerva B. Gerodias
* Palace official admits Malacañang closely monitoring heated race for House speakership
* Rep. Pablo Garcia, who is eyeing the post, is meeting allies Sunday, a day after JDV met majority coalition members to discuss moves
CEBU CITY -- Efforts of majority coalition congressmen to come up with one candidate for the House of Representative’s top post failed after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo canceled their meeting Sunday.
Administration congressmen said the President initially called on all her allies in the Lower House to a caucus in Malacañang Sunday.
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Deputy House Speaker Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north) said the meeting would have also allowed coalition members hold a secret balloting to come up with the bloc’s lone candidate for speaker.
A few hours later though, del Mar said they were informed that the meeting has been called off.
Del Mar told Sun.Star Cebu that he was informed by the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office that the President could no longer accommodate the congressmen Sunday.
Del Mar, however, said they will find a way to “see if there’s an opening in her schedule and we could meet.”
But if there’s none, del Mar said “everything (issues surrounding elections for House speaker) will just be settled on the floor in the plenary session.”
Representative Pablo Garcia (Cebu, second district), however, said the meeting was canceled because they told somebody close to the President that meeting the President will be contrary to her earlier announcements that she will stay neutral in this issue.
A Palace official, however, admitted Saturday that the heated race for the speakership is keeping Malacañang on pins and needles as well.
Antonio Albano, executive director of the Office of Political Coalition Affairs, said his office has been working overtime monitoring the situation.
“Problema ‘yan (That would be a problem). We are working overtime monitoring these events,” Albano said on government-run radio station dzRB.
Garcia, who is challenging House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. four-term reign, believes the meeting shows that de Venecia is already panicking, especially that Garcia is pushing for a secret balloting.
While coalition members are still uncertain about being able to meet the President, Garcia will hold a get-together with his partymates and other groups at 10 a.m. Sunday.
He also said an all-party meeting was supposed to take place Saturday to check whether he or de Venecia has the numbers and to ensure a smooth election on Monday.
De Venecia, however, reportedly did not agree to this.
Instead, he met with coalition congressmen, who raised the possibility that a lengthy debate on the procedures for Monday’s election will delay the schedule of the President’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) when the 14th Congress opens.
“But the possibility that there will be no elected speaker yet during the Sona was discounted in the light of the commitment of all camps to end all debates and have an election well before the Sona at 4 p.m. on Monday,” del Mar told Sun.Star Cebu.
Protocol dictates that the Senate president and the House speaker will accompany the President to the rostrum before she delivers the Sona.
“I think there is a clear-cut majority in favor of the Speaker. I think it is a matter of selecting the speaker and I think it’s a procedural matter,” he said.
Cerge Remonde, director-general of the Presidential Management Staff, said in another radio interview Saturday that Arroyo’s Sona will be more of a report card.
Unlike in the past, her Sona on Monday will be an audio-visual presentation of her accomplishments, instead of just enumerating them. She will include an allocation for the computerization of the 2010 polls and other laws that will prevent cheating in the elections, Remonde said over radio dyLA.
He also said Arroyo will talk about prioritizing infrastructure projects in the rural areas, unlike past presidents, who focused on Manila and other areas in Luzon.
Last-minute changes, however, are expected to be made to the President’s speech.
During Saturday’s meeting, a total of 138 legislators who pledged their support for the reelection bid of House Speaker Jose de Venecia showed up.
Representative Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south) and Representative Eduardo Gullas (Cebu, 1st district) attended the meeting with other legislators from Lakas-NUCD, Kampi, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), Liberal Party and the National People’s Coalition.
The majority coalition anticipate a lengthy debate on whether the election should be done through secret balloting, or the traditional viva voce roll call voting, which will have the legislators saying aloud the name of their choice for House speaker.
“We expect there will be a proposed resolution deviating to a secret balloting, which will take a considerable length of time because of all the debates. The President believes the best way to settle this is through a caucus, that is why she acceded to the request of both sides and has called for a caucus today to try to thresh out the problems,” said del Mar.
He added that he believes it will not be difficult for Garcia and de Venecia to come to terms, especially since both agreed to a secret balloting during a caucus, and not at the plenary.
“But the main difference is that Congressman Garcia wants the opposition to participate in the voting while de Venecia sees no need to include the opposition congressmen in selecting the majority coalition’s choice for speaker,” del Mar added.
Cuenco, for his part, said he is still undecided on who he will vote for this Monday, adding that he will just let his conscience guide him when he chooses between de Venecia and Garcia, a fellow Cebuano.
Cuenco was at the meeting Saturday but said he had to leave even before the discussions started as he had to catch his flight back to Cebu. (With Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (July 22, 2007 issue)
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