Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson said yesterday that he has made peace with former President now House Speaker Gloria M. Arroyo, his erstwhile political enemy.
“Make no mistake, I’ve made peace with her,” Lacson said.
Lacson said he smoked the peace pipe with Arroyo during a bicameral conference committee meeting on the national ID bill recently. Both authors of the bill, the former Philippine National Police chief and Arroyo represented the Senate and House in the meeting.
“We shook hands. It was a warm handshake. And I want to keep it that way, na hindi na kami magkaaway,” he said.
However, Lacson said he could not accept that Arroyo favors the House voting separately with the Senate on the proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution and the shift to a federal form of government.
“Assuming she’s sincere and genuine when she said she is voting separately, but she is only one vote despite being the Speaker of the House.’’ he said.
Lacson said Arroyo’s power grab during President Duterte’s State-of-the-Nation Address last July 23 was “awkward” and did not sit well with him and foreign dignitaries who had to wait for an hour before the issue could be resolved.
The speakership issue should have been resolved the following day, he said.
“Doon na lang nakita natin bakit medyo atat maupo at nakita natin parang nagpa-practice, e wala pa SoNA, pina-practice gavel?’’ Lacson asked.
Lacson said he and his colleagues see that Arroyo aspires to be the Prime Minister and asked themselves why she wanted the speakership when both the plenary sessions of the Senate and House of Representatives go on three periods of recess starting in October to February before the May 2019 mid-term elections.
“Bakit kailangan pa ang leadership? Ano ang end-state desired? ‘Yan ang tinitignan namin. So these are analyses. We may be right, we may be wrong but that’s the analysis ng sine-share n gaming kasama sa Senado,’’ he said.
The Lacson and Arroyo feud boiled when he left the country for Hong Kong after fearing for his life during her presidency and a warrant of arrest arising from the Dacer-Corbito double murder case was issued against him in 2010. Former President now Manila Mayor Joseph E. Estrada was also implicated in the killings.
Lacson returned to the country in March 2011 when President Benigno Aquino III was nine months into his term. (Mario B. Casayuran)
