House elects new leaders today

MANILA, Philippines – The 17th Congress is set to elect the leaders of its two legislative chambers today, hours ahead of the State of the Nation Address before its joint opening session.

Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez is expected to be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives as members seek new alliances and form blocs.

At the Senate, the chamber will not be a rubberstamp of the Duterte administration despite the overwhelming number of senators joining the majority, incoming Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said yesterday.

The 104 new members of the House form a potent bloc. Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, who is on his first term, hosted a fellowship dinner with his neophyte colleagues over the weekend.        

Though Alvarez was their guest, Villafuerte said yesterday they organized themselves with “no political color or party affiliation in mind.”

Alvarez is President Duterte’s choice for the top House job. The two belong to the new ruling PDP-Laban party.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, who has joined the administration party, will be voted as majority leader.

The minority leadership will be an interesting fight between the groups of Representatives Danilo Suarez of Quezon, who belongs to the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), and Edcel Lagman of Albay of the Liberal Party (LP).

Over the weekend, Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr., who heads the LP bloc, gave up his aspiration to be minority leader. His group has decided to join Alvarez’s super majority.

In a text message to reporters yesterday, Fariñas said he asked Belmonte if the signing of a coalition agreement between the LP and PDP-Laban would push through as scheduled at 8 p.m. last night.

“Yes, let’s do it now, so that everything will be okay by tomorrow,” Fariñas quoted Belmonte as saying. – With Paolo Romero