Lagman still entrenched as House minority leader

House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman. INQUIRER/JOAN BONDOC

Minority Leader Edcel Lagman is still entrenched in his post for the second straight session day as Deputy Minority Leader and Quezon Representative Danilo Suarez failed to present a manifesto showing that most of the minority bloc members want him as their leader.

A day after Suarez claimed victory in a minority caucus, Lagman questioned at least seven of the signatures on a list of 16 minority bloc members that are purportedly supporting his replacement.

Among the 16 who signed the Suarez manifesto, Lagman identified former Arroyo Cabinet Secretaries AA-Kasosyo party-list Representative Nasser Pangandaman, Bohol Representative Arthur Yap and Iloilo Representative  Augusto Syjuco; former Arroyo executives Representative  Jose Aquino II and Isabela Representative Rodolfo Albano; and Bohol Representative Erico Aumentado, Una ang Pamilya party-list Representative Reena Concepcion Obillo, Lanao del Sur Representative Mohammed Hussein Pangandaman and Lanao del Norte Fatima Aliah Dimaporo.

Lagman is questioning the validity of the Suarez resolution claiming that at least five voted for both him and Suarez (Albano, Aumentado, Obillo, and the two Pangandamans) which should cancel out their votes; Syjuco and Dimaporo have not obtained the permission of the Nacionalista Party (which was part of the administration coalition) before voting for the minority leadership battle; and Yap has told him he would stay neutral in the minority leadership brawl.

“If the said invalid and contested signatures are not counted for Suarez, he would fall short of the requisite absolute majority of 16 supportive opposition members to replace me given the number of minority members at 30, to include presumptively Syjuco and Aliah Dimaporo,” said Lagman.

Lagman noted that the Suarez resolution included the signatures of Camarines Norte Representative Diosdado Macapagal-Arroyo and Ang Galing Pinoy Representative Juan Miguel Arroyo.

The Arroyo brothers signed the resolution despite earlier statements from the Arroyos that they would remain neutral to debunk accusations that the former president was behind my ouster plot,” said  Lagman in a statement.

“The hand of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is indelibly stamped on the manifesto seeking the installation of Representative Danilo Suarez as the new Minority Leader,” Lagman said.

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has declared that Lagman would be the recognized Minority Leader until Suarez formally presented a manifesto signed by 15 members of the minority endorsing him as Lagman’s replacement.