GMA’s allies in House fail to take over

Lawmaker-allies of President Arroyo failed yesterday to take over the leadership of the House of Representatives, where an impeachment complaint against her is pending.

Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella preempted an impending move to reorganize the chamber and reinstall Las Piñas Rep. Manuel Villar Jr. as new House boss by abruptly adjourning the session.

Fuentebella declared the adjournment after the roll call, which showed that only 88 of the 217 members of the chamber were present, and therefore a quorum was not attained.

"Let it be known that most of those present are from the majority," he said.

At that time, most of those in the minority were still in the office of Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr. (Lakas, Quezon City), where the former opposition (now administration) congressmen hold their weekly caucus.

As of yesterday, it was not clear which of the two sides had the upper hand in the fight for control of the House.

The new administration coalition in the chamber is composed of Lakas, the conscience bloc of former Speaker Villar, the Liberal Party, and a breakaway faction of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino.

A pre-session caucus called by Belmonte and Villar was attended by 80 members, while an equal number of congressmen were present in another meeting called by Fuentebella.

However, the ranks of the ruling coalition appeared to be growing with defections from the other side.

Yesterday, it already had several defectors, including Representatives Reynaldo Calalay of Quezon City, who belongs to former President Joseph Estrada’s Partido ng Masang Pilipino, and Augusto Syjuco, who was elected by the Fuentebella majority to head the House contingent in the Commission on Appointments.