The takeover of former President and now Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the House leadership attests to the inadequacy of the House of Representatives to change the constitution, a socialist group said.
“Whether under Arroyo or [Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon] Alvarez as House Speaker, Congress still does not represent the collective will of the people, and should not be granted the authority to change the highest law of the land as a Constituent Assembly,” Partido Lakas ng Masa Chairman Sonny Melencio said in a statement on Monday.
According to Melencio, Arroyo’s House leadership speaks a lot about the control of the elite over politics.
“The coup for speakership by the once much-hated former president and now congresswoman Gloria Arroyo is proof of the rottenness of elite democracy in the country,” Melencio claimed.
“Our legislators are not only representatives of the minority elite; more so, they are also more concerned with the division of spoils and their positioning within the power corridors,” he added.
Arroyo took her oath as House speaker on Monday before President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his State of the Nation Address, replacing Representative Alvarez.
However, it was Alvarez who welcomed Duterte inside the house. He also sat as speaker during the SONA proper itself.
READ: With House sound system dead, Arroyo takes oath as new Speaker
Melencio alleged that some representatives from the House would turn the Consultative Committee’s draft constitution into their favor.
“Cha-cha through the trapo-dominated Constituent Assembly would reverse all the alleged benevolent provisions of the proposed charter by the Consultative Commission, including the prohibition on political dynasties to further their vested economic and political interests,” he said. /vvp