Drilon: House will be ‘laughing stock of history’ if Suarez becomes minority leader

Senator Franklin Drilon at the Senate session. INQUIRER file photo / EDWIN BACASMAS

The House of Representatives will be the “laughing stock of history” if they allow Rep. Danilo Suarez to become the minority leader, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon warned on Thursday.

Drilon noted that the House rules are very clear: those who voted in favor of the winning Speaker would be part of the majority bloc.

The Liberal Party (LP) senator also cited the Supreme Court decision G.R. No. 227757, which states that the Minority should be composed of those who voted for anyone other than the winning candidate, as well as those who abstained from voting.

READ: House squabble shifts to minority leader position

“I hope that our colleagues in the House would be conscious of some basic rules in a legislature,” Drilon said at the weekly Kapihan sa Senado forum.

“Hindi naman siguro pupwede na ‘yung speaker, majority leader, minority leader all belong to the PDP-Laban,” he added, referring to President Rodrigo Duterte’s ruling political party.

The senator said this is why LP members at the lower chamber asserted that they are the true minority in the House.

READ: LP members assert themselves as House’s ‘true minority bloc’

And if the chamber would allow Suarez, who voted Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Speaker, to be the minority leader, Drilon said: “They would be the laughing stock of history.”

“Those who voted for GMA cannot become (part of the) minority,” he stressed.

Drilon also said the squabble for the minority leader post was a “sign of the lack of any decent political party system in our country.”

The opposition senator also warned that these conflicts at the House would “inevitably” slow down their work, “especially that those not happy (with the results) would keep on raising issues.” /jpv

READ: Shouting match erupts as Fariñas questions Arroyo election as Speaker