Arroyo, Abante to get plum posts in Velasco congress

MANILA, Philippines — Former House Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo will both get House leadership posts during the term of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.

In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel on Monday, Velasco said Rep. Arroyo will take over as chairperson of the House committee on energy, a post that the new Speaker vacated following his election.

“I will be giving the post to Cong. Mikey Arroyo mainly because he’s the senior vice chair right now,” Velasco said.

Rep. Arroyo is part of political party Lakas-CMD which was previously chaired by his mother, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

In 2018, Velasco also supported Arroyo when she was elected to helm the House following the ouster of then Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

A couple of years later, Lakas-CMD was seen as the “swing vote” in the speakership row between Velasco and ousted Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.

“[I did] not really go through all the members but I just had to talk to the party leaders of Lakas and explained to them that we have to save the institution, that we have to show the people that we are a man of our word,” Velasco said when asked how he won over the party’s support in the speakership squabble.

Meanwhile, Velasco also assured that Abante will get a post but it is still under evaluation.

It would be recalled that on October 16, Abante announced his decision to step down from his post as House minority leader and join the majority bloc.

Abante announced he is stepping down from his post a day after expressing willingness to give his post to Cayetano should the latter want his post.

But Abante does not believe that Cayetano would want his post, especially following his stint as the Speaker of the House.

EDV