Arroyo is still House deputy speaker, for now

Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / LYN RILLON)

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is still a deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, at least for the time being.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Thursday sought to correct the misimpression that he had ordered the replacement of the Pampanga representative as a House leader for opposing the revival of the death penalty.

“No, not yet, because we have not yet voted in plenary [session],” Alvarez said when asked if Arroyo had been removed from her post.

He had earlier warned deputy speakers and committee chairs of the 293-seat chamber that they risked being replaced if they planned to vote against the proposed law restoring the capital punishment for heinous offenses, one of the top legislative priorities of the Duterte administration.

Alvarez said the deputy speakers and committee chairs stood to lose their posts only once they had voted against the measure on the plenary floor.

Alvarez also dismissed insinuations that he was targeting Arroyo because she was rumored to be interested in the speakership. Text messages that Arroyo would replace Alvarez as he was poised to join Mr. Duterte’s Cabinet circulated late last year, but both camps denied it.

Arroyo has kept mum on the controversy and reporters’ requests for an interview were turned down on Wednesday.

Of the 14 deputy speakers in the House, Arroyo and Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya have voiced opposition to the bill. Members of the Makabayan bloc, three of whom have committee chairmanships, are also opposing the bill.

Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus, chair of the poverty alleviation committee, said she was prepared to lose her chairmanship, rather than succumb to “patronage politics.”

The 1987 Constitution abolished the death penalty with the caveat that it may be reimposed for heinous crimes through a law passed in Congress.

It was restored under former President Fidel V. Ramos’ administration, while executions started under Joseph Estrada’s. Arroyo then issued a ban on executions, and a law was later passed in 2006 ending the death penalty.