88 new lawmakers swing vote in speaker race

Eighty-eight new lawmakers will decide who will lead the 241-member House of Representatives when the 14th Congress opens on July 23, according to two new lawmakers.

The choice is between Representatives Jose de Venecia Jr. of Pangasinan and Pablo Garcia of Cebu.

New Representatives Reno Lim of Albay and Rex Gatchalian of Valenzuela said their group can be a force to reckon with once the election for speakership opens on July 23, when President Arroyo delivers her State of the Nation Address before a joint session of Congress.

“We can be the decisive factor or the swing vote in the speakership fight,” Lim, who took the place of Joey Salceda in the 3rd district of Albay, told reporters yesterday.

“There are just too many neophytes.”

Gatchalian, 28, said new lawmakers will be careful in choosing their candidate for speaker.

“Both of them are veteran, competent and capable leaders who possess impeccable records in lawmaking and government service,” he said. “We only have to choose the best man for the job.”

Of the 88 new lawmakers, 82 represent congressional districts, while six others come from party-list groups already proclaimed by the Commission on Elections.

This does not include other party-list lawmakers who will be proclaimed later.

There are a total of 105 first-term House members, 23 of whom are returning veteran lawmakers.

Giorgidi Aggabao, a comebacking legislator from Isabela, recognizes the importance of the votes of new lawmakers in choosing the next speaker.

“The neophytes’ bloc is very crucial in the speakership fight,” he said.

The remaining 136 members of the House are either second or third-termers.

The 14th Congress will have a total of 219 House members from congressional districts – seven seats more than that of the 13th Congress. It will have an additional 20 or so members from party-list groups.

When the new Congress opens on July 23, there will be a total of 51 women members, almost a fourth of the House, the highest so far in Philippine political history. Of this number, 45 come from congressional districts and the rest from party-list groups.

The youngest member of the House is 25-year-old Rep. Sharee Ann Tan, of Wester Samar, a pharmacist who defeated political kingpin Catalino Figueroa.

The oldest is Pablo Garcia of Cebu, 81, a returning lawmaker.