Ping: Challenge Sara’s ‘role’ in House coup

Sen. Panfilo Lacson. INQUIRER.NET PHOTO/CATHY MIRANDA

If Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte had played a key role in the leadership change in the House of Representatives, the matter should not be left unchallenged, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said on Thursday.

“Any power or authority delegated outside the official chain of government bureaucracy should not only be discouraged, but challenged and checked at the soonest possible opportunity,” Lacson said in a statement, adding that this did not speak well of President Duterte’s vaunted “strong leadership.”

“We should not have a repeat of our past experiences under previous administrations… where persistent talk of interventions and influence-peddling by relatives of sitting Presidents did not help any in the efficient and smooth management of state affairs,” the senator said.

Members of the House of Representatives have alleged that the mayor had a hand in convincing lawmakers to oust Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and replace him with Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Mayor Duterte did not confirm this, although she congratulated Arroyo and described her as “a strong leader.”

Public spat

Alvarez, the secretary general of the President’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), and Mayor Duterte had a public spat several months ago over her newly formed political party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, the PDP-Laban president, saw no problem if indeed Sara Duterte had lobbied for Alvarez’s ouster, however.

“That’s OK because that’s fair game,” Pimentel said.

Minority Leader Franklin Drilon expressed doubts that the younger Duterte could be called a queenmaker, and said people may just be assuming that she spoke with the authority of her father.