By HANNAH TORREGOZA
Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito on Tuesday predicted that senators will close ranks the minute they sense that newly-elected House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will perpetuate herself into power as prime minister under a federal form of government that the Duterte administration has been pushing for.
“That, you can be assured that many of the senators will resist this kind of move if this move is part of the plan to perpetuate herself to become the prime minister. Many of the people will oppose this, especially in the Senate,” Ejercito told reporters at the sidelines of the majority caucus at the office of Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
Ejercito made the comment a day after majority of the members of the House of Representatives successfully ousted Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez as Speaker and replaced him with Arroyo during and after President Rodrigo Duterte’s third State-of-the-Nation-Address (SoNA).
The senator said he is certain that administration and opposition senators will cross party lines to unite and thwart such plans in the event the Duterte administration insists and pushes for the shift to a federal form of government.
Ejercito said he can only hope that an Arroyo-led House of Representatives would lead to better working relationship between the Senate and the Lower House which he admitted turned sour under Alvarez’s watch.
“I just hope whatever this move for her to be Speaker, would be to improve the working relationship between the House and the Senate,” Ejercito said.
“But if the motive is to shift to federalism and eventually, GMA (Arroyo’s initials) becomes the prime minister, I think a lot of people will object,” he pointed out.
Ejercito, however, said that while he respects the House’s prerogative to change their leadership, there is a glaring dissonance on Arroyo’s takeover of the lower chamber to President Duterte’s anti-corruption drive.
“I think the timing was bad because the whole world was watching, we had foreign dignitaries (as visitors). Then the mace was missing…Why did we have to stoop down tot that level?” Ejercito lamented.
“But that’s the affairs of the House. That’s their decision. I won’t comment further on that. I just found it inappropriate because the dignitaries were waiting then,” he pointed out.
Ejercito pointed out that during the time of the Arroyo administration, the legitimacy of her leadership was always in question.
The Arroyo administration was also rife with scams and scandals, which Congress eventually investigated.
