FILE PHOTO: Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines —Opposition leader and Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman said that the removal of former president and now Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from her senior deputy speaker role and Vice President Sara Duterte’s resignation from Lakas-CMD are linked.
In a statement on Friday, Lagman said the recent events involving the administration’s allies also show that the positioning for the 2028 presidential polls has started already.
Just this Thursday night, Arroyo confirmed that her actions were misconstrued as an attempt to stage a coup against House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez. After that, Duterte — part of Lakas-CMD and Arroyo’s known ally — resigned from the party.
“The positioning and contest for the 2028 presidential elections have begun even before the 2025 mid-term elections,” Lagman said.
“The stripping of Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of her Senior Deputy Speaker position and the subsequent resignation of Vice President Sara Duterte from the ruling Lakas-CMD party are obviously related,” he said.
READ: Arroyo breaks silence: My actions were misconstrued, I was accused of staging House coup
READ: Sara Duterte resigns from Lakas-CMD
Lagman noted that there were rumors also in 2018 that Duterte was behind the ouster of then-House speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. Just hours before the third State of the Nation Address (Sona) of former president Rodrigo Duterte — the Vice President’s father — the speaker’s seat was declared vacant, and Arroyo was elected into the speakership position.
“It would be recalled that Arroyo and Duterte were the principal conspirators in the ouster of then Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and the ascendancy of Arroyo as Speaker in 2018,” Lagman, president of the opposition Liberal Party (LP), said.
READ: Backed by 184 lawmakers, Gloria Arroyo takes oath as Speaker
“The power play and intramurals in Lakas may result in further resignations by Arroyo and Duterte loyalists. These political developments will have repercussions in the revamp of the Marcos cabinet,” he added.
READ: Solons say Sara Duterte played key role in Alvarez ouster
READ: Palace downplays Mayor Sara’s role in Alvarez’s ouster
Lagman said LP would be “keenly watchful of further developments as they unfold.”
Arroyo was replaced by Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., during the session on Wednesday. The former president would now be taking on a deputy speaker role, filling up the post left by Gonzales.
Arroyo said while she initially wanted to be the House speaker when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. won in 2022, she saw the wisdom in placing Romualdez as the head of the House.
READ: Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo replaced as senior deputy speaker
“When President Marcos won, I wanted to aspire for the Speakership of the House. But it soon became apparent that he was most comfortable with then Congress Martin Romualdez as Speaker. I quickly realized the wisdom embedded in that sentiment,” she said.
Initially, Arroyo said that this move was the prerogative of the House of Representatives.
“It’s the prerogative of the House,” Arroyo said in a short statement sent by her office to reporters.
READ: Arroyo: My replacement as senior deputy speaker was House’ prerogative