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By Maricel V. Cruz, Reporter
The looming showdown between
administration allies Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD)
and the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) in the Fourteenth
Congress is part of Malacañang’s plan to control of the House of
Representatives in anticipation of another attempt to impeach
President Arroyo.
A well-placed House source said
Thursday that the supposed rivalry between Lakas and Kampi in the
House is a strategy to bring both the majority and the minority
blocs under Malacañang’s control.
“It is a tradition in the House
that the lawmaker who gets the second highest number of votes in the
election for speaker automatically becomes the minority leader,”
the source said.
“Going by this tradition, a
Lakas-Kampi tiff would mean only one thing—since both parties
belong to the administration, both the majority and minority would
therefore come under the control of Malacañang,” the insider
said.
A senior administration lawmaker
had earlier said that Kampi, whose honorary president is Mrs.
Arroyo, was allegedly plotting to oust Speaker Jose de Venecia, the
Lakas president.
De Venecia, who is running for a
third and last term as representative of Pangasinan’s fourth
district, will be challenged by Mayor Benjamin Lim of Dagupan City,
a former Lakas member who has since joined Kampi.
Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran
said he tends to believe the supposed Lakas-Kampi feud over the
speakership is a “ploy to gain full control of the House.”
“It is very elementary . . .
Malacañang’s hand is very much obvious here, that it wants to
have full control of both the majority and the minority in the House
in anticipation of another impeachment to be filed against Mrs.
Arroyo,” Beltran said.
The way things are developing in
the House, the detained lawmaker did not discount the possibility
that Lakas and Kampi would end up controlling the chamber.
“Whether Lakas or Kampi wins
the speakership, the effect is the same. This early, we can expect
to have a ‘company union’ minority in the House,” Beltran
said.
For House minority leader Francis
“Chiz” Escudero the rift is “real and can potentially blow in
their faces.”
“This is a precursor to the
administration losing control over things, given that 2010 is just
around the corner,” Escudero said.
Other pro-administration
congressmen laughed off the opposition’s “hallucination” that
local candidates of Lakas and Kampi would be forced to defect to the
Genuine Opposition.
Mauricio Domogan of Baguio City
and Roseller Barinaga of Zamboanga del Norte said it would be a
“big joke” and “highly unimaginable” for members of the
administration coalition to join GO which they said suffers from a
weak campaign and faces a severe shortage of campaign funds.
Domogan, the Lakas chairman for
the Cordillera Autonomous Region, said the GO candidates are so
detached from political realities if they think administration bets
would defect.
“If ever there would be any
movement within the administration coalition, that will only be the
realignment of forces within coalition partners. That’s the worst
case scenario,” he said.
Barinaga, the Kampi chairman for
Western Mindanao, said the administration coalition remains solid.
“We have good leaders the
opposition can only wish for. To GO, please stop sowing intrigues
about Lakas and Kampi as these won’t work nor break up the
administration coalition. Instead of experiencing defections, the
administration coalition is gaining more members who believe in our
pro-people, pro-development advocacies and platform,” he said.
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