NAVOTAS City Representative Toby Tiangco left Monday the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) due to alleged misunderstanding with other party members over the issue of minority leadership in the House of Representatives.
Tiangco said he resigned as party president and member of UNA as other members led by Quezon Representative Danilo Suarez were allegedly being used by the so-called "super majority" to prevent the Liberal Party (LP) from bagging the minority leadership.
"Parang game fixing eh. That's against my principle… tanggap kong matalo kami sa isang malinis na halalan fair and square," said Tiangco.
Tiangco said the super majority did not want any members of LP to bag the minority leadership, as they are willing to lend some of their allied lawmakers in their bloc to secure the victory of Suarez.
Prior to the speakership race on Monday morning, a faction of LP led by former House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. decided to forgo their personal ambition to bag the minority leadership, knowing that he would lost to Suarez if the majority implied the alleged scheme revealed by Tiangco.
On Monday, 21 legislators abstained from the speakership race won by Davao del Norte Representative Pantaleon Alvarez who obtained the support of 251 lawmakers.
Tiangco disclosed that those 21 names, mostly from the party-list coalition might have voted for the majority or minority despite earlier pronouncements and commitment by most of them to support the speakership bid of Alvarez.
"Yung 21 na 'yun that could be the swing vote that can change the minority leadership. Speaker cannot be changed… Tatanggapin ba nila si Teddy Baguilat? Saan pupunta ‘yung 21 na ‘yun," Tiangco said.
During Monday’s election for speakership, Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat placed second after garnering eight votes while Suarez only able to secure the support of seven lawmakers.
By the tradition of the previous Congress, Baguilat should be the automatic minority floor leader after placing second but newly installed House majority floor leader Rodolfo Fariñas Jr. (Ilocos Norte) said all those who not voted in favor of the winning Speaker shall automatically be part of the minority bloc.
Fariñas said that under the House rules, the majority and minority leader would be elected by members of the emerging majority and minority bloc in Congress.
The majority bloc comprises the lawmakers who voted for the winning Speaker, while the minority bloc comprises the solons who voted for the losing speaker contenders.
The Ilocos Norte lawmaker said that all those who voted for the losing contenders for the House speaker as well as those who abstained earlier can join in the voting of the new minority leader.
For his part, Baguilat cried foul adding that he should have handily won the minority race having gotten the second highest votes for Speaker, as per the rules of previous Congresses.
Buhay Party-list Representative Lito Atienza, a supporter of Suarez, said they will tackle the issue of the minority leadership on Tuesday. (Sunnex)