4 groups seek minority recognition in House

The leadership of the House of Representatives is steering clear of the simmering feud among groups of lawmakers seeking to be recognized as the official minority in the chamber, saying if it intervenes the bloc that it favors will be branded a “yellow union.”

In the Senate, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said the House would become a laughingstock if it insisted on naming Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez minority leader, a staunch supporter of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

By tradition in the Senate, the minority leader is chosen by lawmakers who did not vote for the Senate President, Drilon said.

Interim Deputy Speaker Rolando Andaya Jr. has identified four groups vying to be recognized as the minority:

• The 12 Liberal Party (LP) members who abstained from voting for Arroyo and later elected Marikina City Miro Quimbo as their leader.
• Loyalists of ousted Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez who are backing Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas.
• The Makabayan bloc.
• The group of Suarez, the minority leader during Alvarez’s time.

Perks

The fight for recognition as the official minority group may have something to do with the perks that go with the status.

Under House rules, the minority leader, as well as his deputies, shall have a voice and vote in all House standing committees and may attend meetings of the special committees.

The minority leader also moves for the selection of the minority members of the committees and designates replacements for vacancies.

Allotment of seats on the committees, as well as on the powerful congressional bicameral conference committee, is based on the proportion of majority and minority members in the House plenary.

The Speaker also consults the minority leader for the convening of the House during recess, and for the selection of delegates to interparliamentary gatherings.

Speaker Arroyo wants the competing opposition groups to sort out the matter among themselves, interim Majority Leader Fredenil Castro of Capiz province and Rep. Magnolia Antonino of Nueva Ecija province said at a press conference.

Matters of minority

“The internal fight that is ongoing with the minority is really not something that the majority has a say,” said Antonino, the vice chair of the appropriations committee.

She said one reason the groups were giving the majority problems on the floor was that they wanted the Speaker to declare Fariñas the minority leader.

“The Speaker simply said that the matters of the minority are matters that need to be settled within the minority,” she added.

Castro said it was “not within the authority of the Speaker to declare whoever is the minority leader or the minority group.”

According to Antonino, Arroyo has said that “she cannot meddle in those affairs because the majority has no control over the affairs of the minority.”

Castro warned that an intervention by Arroyo in the dispute could inadvertently affect the credibility and integrity of the minority.

“The purpose of the minority is to ‘fiscalize’ the majority. Therefore if the Speaker interferes with the formation and leadership of the minority, the minority becomes a ‘yellow union’—meaning, there is no longer the role of the minority in the House, because the minority and the majority are just but one and the same,” Castro said.

Laughingstock

Drilon said that if House members would insist on Suarez as the minority leader, “they will be the laughingstock of history.”

“But again, Rep. Danny Suarez voted for GMA [Arroyo] and cannot become part of the minority. In other words, those who voted for GMA cannot become part of the minority,” the senator said at the Kapihan sa Senado forum.

He warned against the possible move of the House leadership to stuff the minority bloc with its own allies.

The real minority in the House are the members of his own party, the LP, who abstained from voting in the speakership race, Drilon said.

Staying put

Suarez said he was staying put as minority leader as only the position of speakership had been declared vacant.

His ally, Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza, said in a television interview that the officially recognized minority group was intact and that its members would decide whether to change their leader.

Those who do not consider themselves part of the majority could apply with the Suarez group, Atienza said.

Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice and Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, members of Quimbo’s group, denounced Suarez for staying on as minority leader.

Erice accused Suarez of “stealing the rights of the people to have a check and balance in the House.”

He urged his colleagues in the minority to exert efforts in the courts and the streets to frustrate Suarez’s machinations.

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