NPC can’t expel me, solon says

Nueva Ecija Rep. Raul Villareal said yesterday the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) cannot expel him because he was never a member of that party. "I am an independent. I never belonged to NPC. It is my wife who is an NPC member," Villareal said.

He furnished reporters copies of a letter he sent to Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. last Aug. 1 informing him that he is an independent.

Early this week, Tarlac Rep. Gilberto Teodoro Jr., NPC executive committee chairman, announced that the party was expelling the Nueva Ecija congressman for his alleged unruly behavior.

"To us, his behavior has become unacceptable," Teodoro told reporters yesterday.

He said party leaders did not like the way Villareal has been conducting himself in his quest for a vice chairmanship in the appropriations committee and other important committees of the House.

"His open protest against Rimpy (Juan Pablo Bondoc of Pampanga) last week was the last straw," he added.

Bondoc, who belongs to NPC, is deputy majority leader. Last week, during the deliberations on the now approved Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, the Pampanga congressman acted as floor leader.

But on Wednesday, Villareal protested Bondoc’s doing the job of floor leader, prompting House leaders to sideline him.

Teodoro said before this incident, the Nueva Ecija congressman publicly wrangled with Bondoc and members of a screening panel for committee posts. – Jess Diaz