By GENALYN KABILING
Malacañang is prepared to work with newly elected House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on the administration’s legislative agenda, including the passage of the proposed 2019 national budget.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the Palace has no problem working with Arroyo due to their “very good relations” even as he denied the Palace involvement in the latest leadership change in the House of Representatives.
“It has always been the Palace position that we do not interfere in purely internal matters of the House. We are ready to work with the chosen leader of the House of Representatives. And because Mrs. – Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is now the House Speaker, we are of course able and ready to work with Speaker Arroyo,” Roque said during a Palace press briefing.
“We have had very good relations with Speaker Arroyo. She was one of the staunchest supporters of the President during the elections,” he said.
Roque said Duterte and Arroyo share the “same political agenda so we foresee absolutely no problems in working with Speaker Arroyo.”
Roque noted that Arroyo’s first test as House Speaker was to facilitate the approval of the proposed R3.757 trillion national budget for 2019 submitted to Congress last Monday.
“The President’s Budget Message for 2019 contains his key budget priorities for next year, which include intensifying infrastructure development, expanding programs on human development, building a more secure and peaceful nation, and other select major social programs,” Roque said.
