Belmonte shrugs off Bello’s departure from House majority

MANILA, Philippines –  Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello’s defection from the majority coalition in the House of Representatives, as a result of the latter’s disgruntlement over President Aquino’s handling of the Mamasapano crisis, was of no political import.

“Well, numerically, [it is a loss], but really, considering more than 92-93 percent of [representatives] belong to the majority in Congress, it doesn’t really matter if one or two drop out,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Belmonte said no loyalty check was necessary among the 260 or so members of the majority in the 290-strong chamber, in the fallout after the Jan. 25 fiasco in Mamasapano town, which led to the deaths of 44 police commandos, 18 Muslim rebels and five civilians.

“There’s no need at all for a loyalty check because their actions speak louder than any loyalty check. We have been together here and we have always been able to resolve any differences among ourselves without fanfare,” he said.

Belmonte said Bello was free to criticize Mr. Aquino’s handling of the Mamasapano encounter.

The outspoken congressman had described the fiasco as a “deadly acid eating at the presidency,” pointing to Mr. Aquino’s implicit defense of the actions of his disgraced police chief Alan Purisima, who was in command of the operation, by pinning the blame on the sacked commander of the Special Action Force, Getulio Napeñas.

“I think that is a conclusion that Cong. Walden Bello made, and it is not unusual. He has made conclusions in the past that differ from the conclusions of others, so he is entitled to it,” Belmonte said.

Belmonte said he did not believe other lawmakers in the majority coalition had any plans of following suit.

“No, I don’t think so, perhaps those who are pretending to be supportive but are not, maybe they are [planning to], but I can’t imagine many. Only Walden talks like that. I think it’s good for him, and good for Congress that he can concentrate on other things,” he said.

Belmonte reiterated his earlier stance that the House would only resume the aborted probe on the Mamasapano clash if the Board of Inquiry investigating it released a report that was not satisfactory to the chamber.

Two House committees began a joint inquiry into the ill-fated operation on Feb. 11, but House leaders suspended the proceeding after it was heavily criticized by the public due to the loud antics of lawmakers and seeming lack of rules and guidelines on the questioning of resource persons.

“Right now we’re awaiting the Senate. We’re awaiting the Board of Inquiry, the Secretary of Justice and so forth, and upon seeing the BOI and Senate report, that will determine how we will proceed and in which areas, but certainly I don’t want to be beginning [on day one],” Belmonte said.

“We want to build from what was built already by others,” he said.