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By Maricel V. Cruz, Reporter
It’s not the speakership
members of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino are really after but
control of the powerful committees in the House, according to
Kampi’s bet for speaker, Rep. Pablo Garcia.
In an interview Garcia
acknowledged that some of his partymates were gunning for positions
in choice House panels.
“There are few of our party
members who are haggling for position in the House. But only a few
of them,” the 83-year-old Cebu lawmaker said.
A House source had told The
Manila Times that Kampi was “not really that serious” in getting
Garcia elected as speaker.
“These Kampi members are really
after the powerful committees in the House. They have been
frustrated in the past Congresses, because they failed to dominate
chairmanships and vice-chairmanships in those committees,” the
source, who is privy to the series of caucuses being conducted by
the majority coalition, said.
Membership in such committees as
appropriations, accounts, ways and means, national defense and the
Commission on Appointments is a key bargaining chip for candidates
for speaker.
“They are just pressuring de
Venecia to give in to their demands,” the source added, referring
to Kampi.
So far, the name of Davao City
Rep. Prospero Nograles, the majority leader in the Thirteenth
Congress and ally of Rep. Jose de Venecia, is prominently mentioned
as the frontrunner in the race for House contingent head in the CA.
But as far as Garcia is
concerned, the wishes of some of his partymates to control powerful
committees would not affect his bid for speaker.
De Venecia’s camp claims that
183 House members have signed a “manifesto of support” for him.
“We now have 183, just a day
after the separate Nationalist People’s Coalition, Kampi and Lakas-Christian
Muslim Democrats caucuses held at the de Venecia residence this
week. This number can breach the 190 count in the next few days,”
Rep. Arthur Defensor of Iloilo said.
Defensor said while Garcia is
“wasting his time destroying the Speaker,” de Venecia has
successfully solidified support from an overwhelming number of
members in the House.
Proadministration Rep. Neptali
Gonzales 2nd of Mandaluyong City challenged Garcia supporters to
stop calling for a “secret vote” and publish instead the
supposed Kampi manifesto containing the signatures of House members
for the Cebu congressman.
Gonzales, who was majority leader
during the Twelfth Congress, called for the disclosure of the
pro-Garcia resolution the most logical and realistic option for
Garcia’s group to prove he has the numbers to challenge de Venecia,
who is aiming for a record fifth term.
“There is no such animal as a
secret balloting for the speakership,” Gonzales said in a
statement.
Gonzales issued the challenge
even as de Venecia’s Lakas-CMD said the July 14 deadline it set
for Garcia to accept a secret ballot among members of the Majority
Coalition passed without a response from Garcia.
“A resolution has been
published which endorses Speaker de Venecia to become speaker of the
Fourteenth Congress, signed by 177 House members. No one has denied
having signed the published resolution,” Gonzales said.
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