Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Told as early as March this year of the plot to unseat Speaker Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez, Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo “Rudy” Fariñas said he was also asked to stay on as majority leader.
But Fariñas opted to go down with Alvarez after Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her allies unseated him as leader of the House of Representatives.
Fariñas told reporters on Tuesday evening that allies of Arroyo approached him in March and told him everything would be as is if Alvarez were replaced.
‘I’m a loyal person’
“I said, ‘No, I am sorry.’ I am a loyal person. I am the majority leader of Speaker Alvarez. I will be majority leader to him only,” he said on Tuesday night.
“The majority leader must have the trust and confidence of the Speaker. After that, they thought I would cling to my position,” he added.
He said he told Alvarez of the ouster plot, and they discussed the matter with President Duterte, who in turn said he had no problem with the Davao del Norte lawmaker as Speaker.
No ambition
In fact, at a subsequent gathering of the President’s allies organized by Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, the President told Alvarez that he could relax because Arroyo had no ambition of becoming Speaker.
Things changed on July 23, the day of the President’s State of the Nation Address, when Arroyo’s allies unleashed their plan to install her as Speaker.
Fariñas said he bore no ill will against his colleagues. All that went down were part of politics, he said.
“Politics is the art of the possible, and if it’s possible, it means you meet the kindest and cruelest of persons,” he said.