THE House of Representatives has removed former President now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Davao City Representative Isidro Ungab as deputy speakers.
The motion to strip off Arroyo and Ungab of their positions were filed by Cagayan Representative House Deputy Majority Leader Ramon Nolasco Jr. after the two failed to sign House Resolution 1414, which upholds the integrity and honor of the House of Representatives and expressing appreciation, solidarity, and support for the leadership of House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Isabela Representative Tonypet Albano and Lanao del Sur Representative Yasser Alonto Balindong will replace Arroyo and Ungab.
House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe said out of the nine deputy speakers, only Arroyo and Ungab failed to sign the “pivotal” House resolution.
“The House leadership respects the right of each member to their individual opinions and decisions. However, leadership positions come with certain responsibilities and expectations,” Dalipe said.
“One of these expectations is to be aligned with the collective decisions of the leadership, especially on matters of significant importance to the institution. By choosing not to sign the resolution, Deputy Speakers Macapagal-Arroyo and Ungab have demonstrated that their perspectives differ from the collective stance of the leadership,” he added.
The House approved the resolution following remarks made by former President Rodrigo Duterte tagging the institution as the “most rotten organization.”
He also tagged ACT Teachers Party-list Representative France Castro as communist, stressing that he wants to kill them.
Duterte made the statement in a bid to defend the request for confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), which are both under her daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio.
The House allocated zero confidential funds to the OVP and DepEd as they opted to reallocate the funds to government agencies in charge of securing the country’s territory at the West Philippine Sea amid the continuous harassment of China.
Ungab and Arroyo are both known allies of Duterte.
In a statement, Ungab said he accepts the decision of the House “without any rancor nor bitterness.”
“I accept the decision of the House leadership to remove me from my position as Deputy Speaker. I have been in Congress long enough to understand the dynamics and interpersonal relations among its members,” he said.
“I leave the deputy speakership’s position assured that I have performed my duties well, with the best intentions and great love for my country,” he added.
Arroyo, for her part, said she failed to sign the resolution because she was abroad, noting that the resolution does not contain anything new “because I have always supported his (Romualdez) leadership as speaker.”
She said she never supported nor took any action to remove Romualdez from his position, as she reiterated that she had already given up any plans to aspire for the speakership again.
“There is always intrigue in politics, often petty. If some intriguers were able to convince Speaker Romualdez of the falsehood that I do not support his leadership in the House, then there is nothing I can do. But even as an ordinary congressman, I will remain true to my word to support President Marcos Jr. -- I will continue to support his preferred man for House Speaker, and that is Speaker Martin Romualdez. Having made myself clear, I think we should now move on to more pressing national concerns,” she said. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)