File Photo. Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. reacts while waiting for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit held in Labuan Bajo on May 10, 2023. (Photo by WILLY KURNIAWAN / POOL / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was tight-lipped on Friday about the reported struggle in the House Speakership.
Marcos briefly mentioned the speakership battle during his speech at the 4th General Assembly of the League of Provinces of the Philippines in Clark, Pampanga.
Speaker Martin Romualdez, his cousin, had introduced him, and he thanked him for doing so.
“Thank you very much to our Speaker of the House of Representatives. I won’t make any comments about the Speakership as of yet,” Marcos said.
Speculations of a rift in the administration and another ouster plot being hatched in the House rose after lawmakers seemed to have demoted former President and Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from senior deputy speaker to deputy speaker.
Arroyo, whom the President described as his “secret weapon,” was replaced by her fellow Kapampangan, 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr.
House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe said the move was to “unburden” Arroyo of the “heavy load of the position.”
Some House leaders then released statements declaring their loyalty and support to Romualdez and the President.
Following Arroyo’s demotion, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, who is Marcos’ running mate in the 2022 polls, announced her resignation from the political party Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), where Arroyo was chairman emeritus and Romualdez is President.
The Vice President did not give a categorical reason for her resignation from the party.
Duterte is a known close ally of Arroyo, who was said to have played a key role in the election of the Pampanga lawmaker as House Speaker in 2018, after the ouster of then House leader Pantaleon Alvarez.
For her part, Arroyo, a known close ally of the Vice President, denied speculations of her plotting a coup, saying her actions may have been “misconstrued.”