Aurelio “Dong” D. Gonzales Jr. Photo from his Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — House minority leader and 4Ps party-list representative Marcelino Libanan hailed the election of Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. as the senior deputy speaker.
Gonzales replaced fellow Kapampangan, former president, and Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
She is now a deputy speaker of the House.
“We, in the minority bloc, join colleagues in congratulating Deputy Speaker Aurelio ‘Dong’ Gonzales Jr. on his election as the new Senior Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. Gonzales will be a huge asset to the House leadership in his new capacity,” Libanan said.
For its part, PDP-Laban— which Gonzales is a part of — said the new post is a recognition of their party mate’s performance in the legislative chamber.
“We consider the move of the House of Representatives to elevate Rep. Gonzales to the second highest position in the chamber as a recognition of our party mate’s invaluable contribution to the unprecedented work that the House has accomplished less than a year in our term,” PDP-Laban said in a statement.
PDP-Laban added this also showed the strong cooperation between them and Lakas-CMD — the political party of Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Arroyo.
In a statement on Wednesday, Majority floor leader and Zamboanga 2nd District Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe said the election of Gonzales was meant to unburden Arroyo from the heavy load of her previous post.
READ: Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo replaced as senior deputy speaker
Arroyo had said her replacement was up to the decision of the House of Representatives.
“It’s the prerogative of the House,” Arroyo previously said in a short statement sent by her office to reporters.
READ: Arroyo: My replacement as senior deputy speaker was House’ prerogative