Roque: Attempt to push for Alvarez replacement just ‘wishful thinking’

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. (File photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Any attempt to push for a replacement for  Pantaleon Alvarez as House Speaker is just “wishful thinking” as he continues to enjoy the President’s trust, Malacañang said Tuesday.

Amid rumblings of a possible change in the House leadership, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said he did not think there was a viable alternative to Alvarez.

“I do hear, you know, here and there, that there is some congressman who in the past were quiet are now speaking against the Speaker,” Pantaleon said in a television interview. “But all this will come to naught because, ultimately, the President will reiterate his support for Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.”

In a press briefing in Malacañang, Roque reiterated that Alvarez has Duterte’s full backing and said he believed that the President’s allies would act as one in their choice for speaker.

Alvarez recently tussled with the President’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, over her formation of a regional political party.

The mayor had slammed Alvarez for supposedly saying she was part of the opposition after she formed the Hugpong ng Pagbabago with other Mindanao politicians.

It was separate from the administration party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, the president’s party.

The squabble gave rise to speculation that the Davao City Mayor would run for a seat in the House of Representatitves and seek the speakership. /atm