Big shake-up looms in House

With the ascension of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the presidency, her opposition allies are expected to move for a leadership shake-up in the House of Representatives.

Mrs. Arroyo belongs to Lakas, now the administration party. As of yesterday, officials of Lakas and three other groups that supported the impeachment process against ousted President Joseph Estrada were discussing the reorganization of the House.

The three groups are the Conscience Coalition, composed of about 40 congressmen led by former Speaker Manuel Villar Jr., the Liberal Party of Batanes Rep. Florencio Abad, and a breakaway faction of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino led by Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla. The Lakas contingent is led by Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

The present head of the chamber, Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, belongs to the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), led by Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. and former Ambassador Ernesto Maceda, both close friends of Estrada.

NPC is one of the three political parties making up Estrada’s Lapian ng Masang Pilipino.

Some congressmen belonging to the minority are for keeping the status quo since Fuentebella, although belonging to the former ruling coalition, fully supported the House panel that prosecuted Estrada in his impeachment trial.

Besides, they said Congress will hold session for only three weeks before adjourning for the election campaign and a reorganization won’t achieve anything.

These congressmen include Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., who comes from the same province as his House boss, Camarines Sur. Andaya served as the prosecution panel’s bridge to Fuentebella on financial matters. The House appropriated P5 million for the panel.

Others, however, would like to push for a complete shakeup so the new ruling party can muster broad congressional and political support for Mrs. Arroyo.

There are three names being floated as possible replacement for Fuentebella: Belmonte, Villar and Assistant Minority Leader Michael Defensor (LP, Quezon City).

Belmonte and Villar are both third termers and eyeing other elective posts. Belmonte wants to run for mayor of Quezon City and Villar for senator. Thus, they would soon file their certificates of candidacy and would have to give up their congressional seats.

Besides, Belmonte is being eyed for a Cabinet post, possibly that of executive secretary.

In the case of Defensor, who has also been offered a Cabinet job, he is a second-term congressman. In case he is chosen speaker, Defensor, at 32, could be the youngest Speaker of the country ever had.

Another group of minority congressmen are proposing that Fuentebella be kept but that his two deputies, Gerardo Espina (Lakas, Biliran) and Agapito Aquino (LDP, Makati City), be sacked.

The pro-impeachment camp had expected the two to support the impeachment process.

The reorganization could affect committees, particularly the committee on justice which is chaired by Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas (LAMP, Ilocos Norte), an Estrada ally and friend.

It is in the Fariñas committee where an impeachment case against then Vice President Arroyo is pending, although the panel has decided to postpone hearings on it indefinitely.

Allies of the new President are now expected to move for its dismissal.

The complaint was filed by Oliver Lozano, a Marcos family lawyer who led the pro-Estrada rally at Mendiola in the dying hours of the previous administration.