House has 2 minority leaders

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives has two minority leaders.

Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr., who belongs to the Liberal Party (LP), maintained yesterday that he is the “true minority leader.”

In a statement, Baguilat said he received the second highest number of votes during Monday’s election of speaker, which Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez overwhelmingly won with 251 votes.

Following tradition, his second-place showing should have automatically made him minority leader, he said.

He received eight votes. Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, the third candidate for speaker, had seven votes.

Instead of sticking to tradition, Baguilat said the majority “applied new rules, leading to the election of Rep. Suarez, who was the anointed one of the majority.”

On Wednesday, the Quezon lawmaker, who was a long-time loyalist of former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo but is now affiliated with the United Nationalist Alliance, grabbed the minority leadership from his colleague from Ifugao.

Suarez convened his supporters, most of whom abstained from Monday’s speakership voting. By a vote of 22 with three abstentions, the group elected him their minority leader.

Baguilat and his supporters boycotted the Suarez group’s meeting.

With Baguilat and Suarez both claiming they are the leaders of the opposition bloc, it will now depend on the majority who it will recognize as the legitimate head of the minority.

Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas has said based on House rules, members who vote for the winning speaker become members of the majority, while those who did not, plus those who abstained, are part of the minority.

He said the minority members have to convene to elect their leader.

Unfortunately for Suarez, he voted for Alvarez on Monday, prompting the Baguilat group to assert that he, by his own choice, became part of the majority and is not qualified to be minority leader.

“That both the majority and minority blocs are allies does not bode well for democracy, as it would silence legitimate voices of dissent that are needed to ensure that Congress will pass laws that are well thought out and balance the needs of various stakeholders,” Baguilat said in his statement.

Members of the Suarez bloc have vowed to be a “constructive minority, and not a company union.”

“We will not be the majority’s minority or company union. We will support President Duterte’s programs if we think they are good for the nation and our people and oppose them if they are not,” Rep. Lito Atienza of party-list group Buhay said.

For his part, Rep. Harry Roque of Kabayan said, “It hurts to be called company union. Do you think I and Congressman Atienza are company union?”