Party-list coalition vows support for Duterte

MANILA, Philippines - The coalition of more than 40 party-list groups in the House of Representatives yesterday promised to support incoming president Rodrigo Duterte and his legislative program.

“We give full support to the incoming administration led by president-elect Rodrigo Roa Duterte. We are full of hope that despite our differences, the wounds and the divisiveness brought about by the national elections, we shall carry on as one nation and respect the voice of the plurality, which is clearly embodied by no other than president Duterte himself. Such is the dictum of democracy,” the coalition said in a statement issued by Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe.

Based on the official vote tally, Ako Bicol topped the party-list election with more than 1.6 million votes.

“We wish him all the luck as he embarks on his quest of delivering justice within the bounds of the law and uplifting the lives of many from extreme poverty. We will support him and respect the mandate given to him by the people. And together, we shall push for a legislative agenda pursuant to his program of action,” Batocabe said.

He said Duterte’s success would be the success of the Filipino people.

He added that the party-list coalition would also support Duterte’s choice of the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Aside from Batocabe, Christopher Co and Alfredo Garbin will represent Ako Bicol.

Winning party-list group Kabataan, however, criticized the newly unveiled economic agenda of Duterte.

It is neither progressive nor groundbreaking, Kabataan first nominee Sara Elago said in a statement.

She lamented that Duterte would continue and maintain the macroeconomic policies of the outgoing Aquino administration.

“We have great expectations from the next president. Yet the continuation of the current administration’s failed policies is not one of those expectations. We are alarmed by the manner in which Duterte’s economic team drafted the next administration’s agenda,” she said.

She added that the incoming leader’s economic program “is clearly oriented towards appeasing foreign big business and the country’s elite through the easing of foreign ownership restrictions and continuation of policies that put premium on the influx of volatile foreign investments rather than building stable national industries.

“To continue the Aquino administration’s macroeconomic policies is tantamount to saying that the next administration will continue to rely on labor export, the public-private partnership scheme, the dole-out system for the poor and tons of other policies that cater only to the interests of local elites and the foreign market. This is not the change that Filipino people expect nor deserve,” Elago stressed.

She urged Duterte to “allow greater public participation in the crafting and fine-tuning of the next administration’s platform of governance.”

Duterte allies

The board of canvassers in Davao City has proclaimed the winning allies of Duterte.

Proclaimed were Karlo Alexei Nograles, Mylene Garcia-Albano and Alberto Ungab as representatives of the first, second and third districts, respectively.

Also declared winners were Duterte’s daughter Sara, who will succeed him as mayor, and his son Paolo, who won another term as vice mayor.

Nograles and Vice Mayor Duterte were unopposed, while incoming mayor Sara, Albano and Ungab beat their opponents by a big margin.

The other congressional winners in Davao del Norte are former congressmen Pantaleon Alvarez of the first district and Antonio Floirendo Jr. of the second district.

The Duterte camp has announced that the incoming president prefers Alvarez for the post of speaker of the House of Representatives.

Nograles had aspired for the job, hoping to follow in the footsteps of his father, former speaker Prospero Nograles.

The Dutertes and Nograleses were previously political enemies.

Alvarez and other Duterte allies would have to form a majority coalition for him to be elected speaker.

The ruling Liberal Party, to which incumbent Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. belongs, remains to be the single biggest bloc in the House and in the Senate. – With Paolo Romero