Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., engaged in a long-running feud with Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, will be replaced as majority leader by House Deputy Speaker and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro when plenary session of the House of Representatives resumes Monday.
A reliable source from the Andaya camp confirmed the report, saying that the leadership change is part of a term-sharing agreement between Andaya and Castro.
However, speculations in the House pointed to Malacanang’s hand on the leadership change.
Andaya’s relief came as the House Committee on Rules, which he heads as of posting time, scheduled Monday morning the third hearing of the legislative inquiry into allegations of irregularities in the preparation of the national budget and reported links of Diokno in bidding anomalies in multi-billion peso flood control contracts in Sorsogon and Catanduanes.
Andaya will fill the vacant chairmanship post of the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, a position he held during the 12th Congress.
House Speaker Gloria M. Arroyo reportedly presided over a House leadership meeting that arrived at a consensus to move Andaya to the appropriations panel which will find itself preoccupied with the bicameral conference proceedings for the proposed 2019 General Appropriations Act.
Last December, Andaya, together with House Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, led House members in unanimously adopted House Resolution No. 2365 calling for the removal of Diokno from the Duterte Cabinet.
Malacanang ignored the House decision.
The demand for Diokno’s dismissal was triggered by the discovery by lawmakers of the questionable P51 billion in pork barrel funds covertly tucked in infrastructure allocation of congressional districts.
This prompted the House to re-align the so-called “parked pork barrel” to other government programs which suffered budgetary cuts that the Department of Budget and Management imposed.
Castro, who represents the second district of Capiz, neither confirmed nor denied the report that he will be take over Andaya’s position but stressed that he will be ready and will accept the position if offered.
He stressed that if the reports are true, the decision made by the House should not be considered as a “rebuke” of Andaya. (Ben R. Rosario)
