Fuentebella out in House coup ; Belmonte is new Speaker

Recognition comes in many forms.

Congressmen elected last night former Minority Leader and head of the prosecution panel in the impeachment trial Feliciano Belmonte Jr. as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Belmonte defeated his lone opponent, Makati Rep. Agapito "Butz" Aquino of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), by a vote of 112 to 79 after being nominated by former House boss Manuel Villar, who was himself ousted after sending the impeachment complaint against ousted President Joseph Estrada to the Senate last Nov. 13.

Belmonte replaced Arnulfo Fuentebella, the country’s first Bicolano speaker who declined to be nominated in last night’s voting, saying he was not interested in the position anymore.

In nominating Belmonte, Villar told his colleagues that the Lakas solon, after having successfully managed the job of prosecuting the deposed leader, should be elected the country’s fourth highest-ranking official.

"At this junction of our history, this post belongs to him," Villar said.

Several colleagues, including Rep. Ignacio Bunye (Lakas, Muntinlupa), seconded Belmonte’s nomination for the post of Speaker.

Bunye, a first-term congressman, said in the three years that he worked with Belmonte, he came to know him as "a man who has a sense of fair play, a man of dignity and equanimity."

Others described Belmonte as "one of the heroes of EDSA people power II."

As of late last night, the House reorganization was still ongoing.

Set to be elected with Belmonte were Representatives Carlos Padilla of Nueva Ecija, Raul Gonzalez of Iloilo City and Nur Jaafar of Tawi-Tawi as Deputy Speakers for Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, respectively.

Padilla led a bloc of solons belonging to the pro-Estrada LDP who supported the impeachment complaint against the deposed leader, the country’s 13th president.

Rep. Sergio Apostol (Lakas, Leyte) was to be chosen majority floor leader. He was formerly senior deputy minority leader and member of the panel that prosecuted Estrada in the Senate.

With Belmonte’s election as speaker, a new majority coalition emerged in the House. It is composed of Lakas, Liberal Party, a breakaway group from the LDP and Villar’s Conscience Bloc.

Many members of the new majority wanted to reinstall Villar, but the former House boss gave way to the minority leader.

"I am giving way to Rep. Belmonte. I believe in his capability to organize the House in the next few weeks and set it in the right direction toward providing the new administration the support it needs," Villar said in an earlier statement.

"Rep. Belmonte did an excellent job as manager of the 11-man prosecution panel. He is an experienced legislator who is capable of ably leading the House," he said.

He said he was not interested in reclaiming the speakership.

"Anyway, people call me Speaker ng Bayan," he added.

It was under Villar’s leadership that the House made history last Nov. 13 when it impeached Estrada.

Many of the pro-Estrada congressmen still resent what he did and did not want him to be the chamber’s leader again.

"Now that President Estrada has been deposed, the installation of Villar would be adding insult to injury," a congressman, who did not want to be identified, said.

Congressmen supporting the Arroyo administration pushed for a leadership change in the chamber after the new President gave them the go-signal.

Mrs. Arroyo initially accepted a proposal for a status quo espoused by former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., who is Lakas national chairman, but changed her mind after her partymates protested her decision.

The President had batted for the retention of Fuentebella as Speaker but later told her Lakas partymates to go for the House leadership if they have the numbers.

A congressman who requested anonymity said Mrs. Arroyo met with Fuentebella and other House leaders Monday night, on the behest of De Venecia who wants to regain his congressional seat in Pangasinan in the May elections.

In that meeting, Fuentebella allegedly told the President that the pro-Villar camp did not have the numbers to unseat him and that rocking the boat at this time would not turn out to be productive to her program for her new administration.

According to the congressman-source, De Venecia agreed and pushed for a status quo in the speakership and a power-sharing scheme wherein key House positions and committee chairmanships will be apportioned among the pro-Estrada and pro-Arroyo congressmen.

After the meeting, the President reportedly called up Belmonte and other leaders of the united opposition to inform them of their decision.

Under the power-sharing scheme offered by De Venecia, pro-Estrada congressmen would retain the speakership and the chairmanship of the powerful committee on accounts, which handles the chamber’s funds, while the rest of the House key posts would go to pro-Arroyo congressmen.

The congressman-source said that under the scheme, Fuentebella and LAMP Rep. Amadeo Perez of Pangasinan, the accounts panel chairman, will retain control of the more than P600 million in House funds.

Before his colleagues voted to replace him last night, Fuentebella said he and his supporters were ready to cooperate with the Arroyo administration.

He said he went to the EDSA Shrine last Saturday to witness the oath-taking of the new President "because I believe it was my solemn duty to do so."

In fact, he said, he signed with Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. a statement recognizing the ascension to the presidency of Mrs. Arroyo.
De Venecia clarified in a statement last night that he only wanted to secure the cooperation of the pro-Estrada congressmen with the Arroyo administration.

Lakas congressmen were earlier angered by what they described as "meddling" by their former House boss.

Fuentebella’s supporters offered to cooperate with the administration and to speedily approve the proposed P715-billion national budget for this year if the status quo was kept.

They also promised to pass a resolution recognizing Mrs. Arroyo as the new President.

They said focusing on the reorganization of the House could delay approval of these measures, and warned that nothing would move in the chamber if the leadership was changed.