Updated 3 p.m.
The alleged involvement of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte in the House leadership change, if proven to be true, “may not speak well of President Duterte’s much-touted strong leadership,” said Senator Panfilo Lacson.
Lacson issued the statement on Thursday amid talks that the presidential daughter had a direct hand and influence in the ouster of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez last Monday.
Alvarez was replaced by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
“If talks about Mayor Sara Duterte having a direct hand and influence in the change of House leadership were true, it may not speak well of President Duterte’s much-touted “strong leadership,” Lacson said in a statement.
“Any power or authority delegated outside the official chain of the government bureaucracy should not only be discouraged, but challenged and checked at the soonest possible opportunity.”
“We should not have a repeat of our past experiences under the previous administrations from [Ferdinand] Marcos to PNoy (Benigno Aquino III), where persistent talks 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 added.
Lacson earlier described the power standoff in the House as “awkward, low, ugly, and disgraceful.” /muf/ac