Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.
INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON
AFTER lording it over Congress the past six years, lawmakers belonging to the Liberal Party (LP) now find themselves struggling for relevance and a place in the new administration.
Outgoing Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Tuesday said he was negotiating for “equal treatment” for over 100 LP members wishing to be part of the new majority coalition in the House of Representatives.
“I am trying to negotiate with Congressman Alvarez to treat us the same way they have treated the [Nacionalista Party (NP) and Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC)] and all the others,” he said, referring to Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, the choice for Speaker of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.
“We ask for the same standing as the other parties,” Belmonte said, noting that the LP’s ranks “are being poached” by Duterte’s party, the PDP-Laban.
Belmonte, LP executive vice president, said he hoped his party mates would be allowed to retain their membership in the LP but join up with PDP-Laban as a coalition partner.
“We started out as the bigger party so we have a different perspective,” he said.
Forge a coalition
Belmonte recalled that when the LP forged a coalition with other political parties in 2010 to form the House majority, “we never signed a contract with anybody. It was all word of honor.”
“Now that the NPC and NP have signed up with PDP-Laban, we also want to sign with them. We want to enjoy parity of [treatment],” Belmonte said.
PDP-Laban has reportedly been compelling LP members to abandon their party as a condition for joining the majority coalition or in exchange for prized committee chairmanships.
Belmonte acknowledged that a “substantial number” of Liberals had expressed an interest in joining Alvarez’s “super majority,” adding that he did not resent them for it.
“I am not blaming those who have chosen to be part of the majority—it’s in their best interest and that of their constituents,” he said.
As for his own plans, Belmonte, who served as Speaker in the 15th and 16th Congresses, said he would gun for the minority leadership.
New minority
“My natural inclination is to be the leader of the minority,” he said.
This means that he would have to run for the speakership against Alvarez, and he and those who vote for him would then comprise the new minority in the 290-member House.
“To be frank, there has to be a minority—that’s needed,” he said.
Belmonte recalled that there were suggestions in the 15th Congress for a “government of national unity,” in which there would be no minority bloc.
“I rejected that immediately. That’s no democracy. An opposition is needed, so I shot down that proposition,” he said.