Duterte had no hand in Alvarez ouster – Palace

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (center) and new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (right), who is also a former President of the country. ROBINSON NIÑAL JR. / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Malacañang denied on Thursday that President Rodrigo Duterte was behind the ouster of former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque issued this statement after detained Senator Leila de Lima said Duterte allowed the return of former President-turned-Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to power. Arroyo unseated and replaced Alvarez, an ally of the President, as new Speaker last Monday.

De Lima, who is facing drug-related charges, said Arroyo was the “runaway winner” in the House leadership row.

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Arroyo was formally elected as Speaker by 184 legislators hours after Duterte delivered his third State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 23. She is the 21st leader of the House and the first woman to hold the post.

READ: With House sound system dead, Arroyo takes oath as new Speaker

Roque dared lawmakers to come out publicly if the President called them up to vote for a particular individual.

“Well again, I commiserate with Leila de Lima, it must be difficult staring at the four walls of her prison cell, so I will let her be. But I’d like to state that the choice of Speaker was made by the members of the House alone and I challenge any congressman to publicly say that the President called them to vote for a particular candidate, because the President did not do that,” Roque said in a press briefing in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay.

He insisted that the President did not “interfere” with the lower chamber’s decision.

“The President did not interfere, this was purely a decision of the members of the House of Representatives,” he stressed.

Reports also surfaced that presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio was behind the ouster of Alvarez. The presidential daughter and erstwhile House Speaker has a spat months ago.

But Duterte-Carpio was mum on the accusations.

“No comment,” she earlier said.

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The rumors of a possible change of leadership at the House of Representatives gained traction in February this year after Duterte-Carpio issued scathing remarks against Alvarez, who allegedly called her newly-formed party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), as part of the opposition since it was not sanctioned by the President.

She also alleged that Alvarez had boasted before a crowd that he, as then-House Speaker, could easily impeach the President. /kga/ac