Power grab or karma? Call it whatever it is

Usually, the news about the State of the Nation Address (SONA) comes with stories of rallyists or demonstrators demanding anything from the government. But apparently, the bigger news was not just about the SONA, but the sudden change of leadership in the House of Representatives. Some people called it a “power grab,” which forced the delay of the President’s SONA to over an hour and a half. I guess this is the problem with social media today; everyone’s opinion is presented even without any explanation.

So was the coup against House Speaker Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez a “power grab” by former president, now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA)? I’ve been listening to radio and TV commentaries about this incident and now it appears that former Speaker Alvarez apparently struck a discordant note when he talked about the “no election” (no-el) possibility that dismayed many congressmen. This is why of all those present, 184 congressmen endorsed GMA to replace Alvarez with only 12 abstaining. Come now, it was no “power grab,” but a bunch of Congress men and women dismayed by the tirades of Alvarez.

You can call this incident whatever name you wish to call it. But certainly, it was GMA’s “karma” vs Alvarez for removing her as deputy speaker when she voted “no” to the return of the death penalty. But GMA did not complain about her removal and maintained her composure as congresswoman still supporting Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte. What we also learned was that this incident was triggered by the public squabble between presidential daughter Sarah Duterte and Alvarez. Hence it was the Presidential daughter that masterminded this coup against Speaker Alvarez.

So in the end, the “power grab” scenario must have been posted by the yellowtards, who after all are loyal to the Aquino family who in reality did a “power grab” against the Marcoses in the EDSA Revolt of 1986. Now whether the election of GMA as Speaker of the House would have an impact in Cebu’s local politics, no less than Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña mentioned that the change in the political leadership at the House might affect the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban). Of course this still remains to be seen.

But Mayor Osmeña declared saying, “I’m not worried about PDP-Laban especially now. (President Rodrigo) Duterte is not active in PDP Laban. Number two; his own daughter (Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte) hates PDP-Laban. Number 3, Koko Pimentel, the president of PDP Laban, is no longer the Senate president. And now (Rep. Pantaleon) Alvarez is no longer speaker in the House. So, PDP-Laban is just another party.”

If you ask me, it’s still too early to make assumptions especially in the political arena. While I do not dispute that the father of Mayor Osmeña was close to the father of GMA, but lest you have forgotten, GMA suffered most during the term of then President Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III, and that Cebu’s Liberal Party leadership was held by Mayor Tomas Osmeña. So we don’t know how GMA feels about the whole thing. So we’ll just cross that bridge when we reach it.

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When session in Congress resumed after Speaker GMA took her oath of office, the House of Representatives didn’t waste its time and approved the proposed Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which the administration and its authors said is the key to promoting lasting peace in Mindanao. This is the first move of the members of the House under the leadership of Speaker GMA.

The BOL will create a new Muslim regional entity and replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Ironically, among the authors of the bill containing the BOL is the man GMA replaced, ousted Speaker Alvarez, and former majority leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas. GMA is a co-author of the measure and we can only guess that everyone voted to pass the BOL.

At this point, we would like to find out whether this time around the Muslims living in Mindanao would truly make the BOL work, after all this is for all Filipino Muslims.

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