Legarda on House speakership: ‘It’s not in my radar’

MANILA, Philippines — While she is open to lead the appropriations committee in the House of Representatives, Senator Loren Legarda said vying for the speakership is not in her “radar.”

Legarda minced no words when asked about Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III’s insinuation at a Senate hearing on Monday that she could lead the House appropriations committee.

“Yes I’m open but it’s really up to the Congress, the lower house, to designate their chairmanships,” she said in an interview at the Senate on Monday.

“It’s been my job for the past four years and I think I’ve a very good working relationship with the economic team. It’s really up to the leadership of the big house …” added Legarda, who currently chairs the committee on finance in the Senate.

Legarda’s term in the Senate will expire on June 30 but she would still be part of the 18th Congress as a member of the House after she won as representative of Antique in the last May elections.

The new Congress will open in July.

Her name was also among those being floated as a possible contender for Speaker, which will be vacated by former President and now outgoing Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo .

READ: Legarda says she can be a good House speaker

But Legarda said she would rather leave the speakership race to those who are aspiring for it.

“With regard to the job, I know I can do it but with regard to the aspiration to be Speaker, it’s not in my radar,” she said.

She said she knows the job of the Speaker but she would not “lift a finger” to get the post.

Aside from Legarda, other names also being floated for the post were former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Marinduque Rep. Lord Velasco, Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, and Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. (Editor: Julie Espinosa)