Six Cebu legislators vote for Alvarez

CEBU, Philippines - Six Cebu congressmen were among the 251 members of the Lower House who voted for Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez as speaker.

They are Cebu City Representatives Rodrigo Abellanosa (South District) and Raul del Mar (North District), Sixth District Rep. Jonas Cortes, First District Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas,   Samsam Fifth District Rep. Red Durano, and Fourth District Rep. Benhur Salimbangon

“I represent the people of the Second District (South) of Cebu City who voted resoundingly for Rodrigo Duterte as President of our country. I listen to the voice of my constituents so I voted for Rep. Pantaleon Bebot Alvarez as Speaker of the House of Representatives who has been chosen by President Duterte to lead the House in pursuing his legislative-executive agenda,” Abellanosa said in a text message.

Del Mar, for his part, said, “pursuant to the Coalition Agreement formally signed between PDP-LABAN and the Liberal Party, of which I am a member, I voted for Pantaleon Alvarez for Speaker of the House in this 17th Congress.”

Cortes who has joined Duterte’s PDP-Laban said, “I voted for Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez because I believe he can best lead the House of Representatives in this moment of overwhelming change.”

He supported the candidacy of Liberal Party bet Mar Roxas in the recent elections but now said he can achieve more as a legislator if he will support the “majority in Congress.”

“My vote for Speaker Bebot Alvarez is an act of true representation of my constituents,” Cortes said.

Meanwhile, Gullas said he backed Alvarez “because of the coalition between the NP and PDP Laban where both parties will work together to help the legislative agenda of the president.”

“If we need to grant the president emergency powers to minimize traffic in Cebu and to implement a LRT in our province, I will support that,” Gullas said.

“You will know and you will feel when someone talks from the heart. And that’s what the president did in his first SONA. When someone talks from the heart, it’s very easy to believe him. I believe our president when he says that this will be a clean government because in a President Duterte administration, the rule of law will always prevail,” he added.

Durano also cited his commitment to the coalition in casting his vote for Alvarez.

“Being a standing member of NPC, I am bound to that coalition; to be part of the majority block,” he told The Freeman in a text message.

 Durano is referring to the coalition of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).

The parties signed an agreement after the May 9 elections supporting the administration of Duterte.

 The NPC, the second largest political group in the country, supported former senator and presidential candidate Grace Poe and her running mate Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero in the May 9 elections. — Jean Marvette A. Demecillo, Garry B. Lao, Kristine B. Quintas, and Iris Mariani B. Algabre/ JMO (FREEMAN)