Lawmakers rally behind SB amid coup rumors

MANILA, Philippines - Colleagues of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. from both the majority and minority rallied behind him yesterday amid what they described as “rumors” of a plot to oust him.

Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe said he believed that some members of the ruling Liberal Party (LP), of which Belmonte is vice chairman, started the coup rumor “because they perceive the Speaker as rooting for Sen. Grace Poe instead of Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas.”

Roxas is the presumptive presidential bet of LP, but Poe is doing well in presidential surveys.

The coup is supposedly going to take place hours before President Aquino delivers his last State of the Nation Address, when some LP stalwarts are going to declare on the floor that all positions – including the speakership – are vacant.

“We know that these are just rumors as of now, but we in the 42-member Party-list Coalition have taken a stand to continue supporting the leadership of Speaker Belmonte,” Batocabe said during the Usaping Balita media forum at the Serye restaurant in Quezon City.

“Let us nip this talk of a coup in the bud. This nonsense will distract us from the job that we have to do, which is to pass several important pending measures,” he added.

Batocabe is one of the officers of the Party-list Coalition to which most of the more than 50 party-list representatives belong.

Batocabe noted that it is only the LP that is capable of “mobilizing the numbers needed to elect a Speaker.”

“The Nationalist People’s Coalition, Nacionalista Party and the National Unity Party (NUP), even if they combine their forces, cannot elect a Speaker. At most, these three groups have a combined membership of 120-130. We are 290 in the House,” he said.

Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Dasmariñas City in Cavite, a leader of NUP, said their party continues to support Belmonte’s leadership.

He agreed with Batocabe that the perception that the Speaker is for Poe instead of Roxas is fueling the coup talk.

“But I don’t believe that this impression is true. I think the Speaker is a loyal LP leader-member and will support the candidate chosen by the President and their party,” he added.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, a member of the minority, also believes that any plot to replace Belmonte “will not succeed.”

“The Speaker enjoys wide support among our colleagues, whether from the majority or the minority, whether from political parties allied with the administration or from the opposition UNA (United Nationalist Alliance),” he said.

“I think the people will not accept a power grab in the House, with us having to work for only a few months before we adjourn again for the long election campaign. We better attend to the vital measures that we have to pass, instead of wasting time talking about a coup plot,” he added.

He noted that the two important measures that Congress needs to approve are the proposed P3-trillion national budget for 2016 and the controversial draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which aims to create a political entity to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Albano noted that the proposed BBL alone would take much of the three months that lawmakers would effectively be in session this year before the election campaign period starts. – With Paolo Romero