MANILA – Quezon (3rd District) Rep. Danilo Suarez on Wednesday was elected Minority Leader of the House of Representatives by 22 of his colleagues, composed mostly of lawmakers who had earlier abstained from voting during Monday’s session when Davao del Norte’s Pantaleon Alvarez was chosen as Speaker.
The Minority Leader was elected after 26 lawmakers, including Suarez, constituted themselves into the minority bloc and chose their leader.
Those who voted for Suarez were Reps. Harlin Neil Abayon (Aangat Tayo), Marlyn Alonte (Biñan City), Sol Aragones (Laguna), Arlene Arcillas (Laguna), Lito Atienza (Buhay), Cristal Bagatsing (Manila), ,Joseph Bernos (Abra), Aniceto Bertis (ACTS-OFW), Anthony Bravo (COOP-NATCCO), Luis Jose Angel Campos (Makati City) and Arnel Cerafica (Taguig City-Pateros).
Also voting for the Quezon lawmaker were Reps. Cecilia Chavez (Butil), Christopher Co (AKO Bicol), Juliet Cortuna (A TEACHER), Eugene de Vera (ABS), Monsour del Rosario (Makati City), Richard Eusebio (Pasig City), Abigail Ferriol (KALINGA), Alfredo Garbin (AKO Bicol), Jose Garcia (Bataan), Dolph Gan Lee (AGRI), Harry Roque (Kabayan), Orestes Salon (AGRI) and Anna Marie Villaraza-Suarez (ALONA).
Three lawmakers abstained from voting – Reps. Lourdes Aggabao (Isabela), Rodel Batocabe (AKO Bicol) and Sharon Garin (AAMBIS-OWA).
After being elected, Suarez said he ran for minority leader because he had a vision.
“I did not run just for the heck of it; I have a platform. We will be the fiscalizers and this is going to be a healthy minority” he said.
Suarez said that he is going to deliver the Minority’s counter-SONA (state of the nation address) on Monday.
However, the legality of the election was being questioned by the group of Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat who got more votes than Suarez (8-7) during the Speakership fight.
By tradition, the runner-up in the election for Speaker automatically becomes the minority leader.
Calling themselves as the “authentic Minority” Baguilat’s group include Reps. Edcel Lagman (Albay), Raul Daza (Northern Samar), Edgar Erice (Caloocan), Gary Alejano (Magdalo), Tom Villarin (Akbayan), Rodante Marcoleta (1-Sagip) and Emmanuel Billones (Capiz).
Both Lagman and Daza said that Suarez cannot be Minority Leader because he voted for Alvarez – thus becoming a member of the majority – and that he lost to Baguilat during the Speakership contest.
They added that abstainers were considered independents and thus are not even members of the Minority.
“A minority leader was elected by a group of renegade abstainers. Besides, most of them are known majority coalition allies and as such, cannot be part of the minority,” Lagman said.
“The election was tragic. How in heaven’s name could abstainers constitute themselves into the minority and elect Suarez as their Minority Leader? In boxing, this is called a fixed fight,” Daza said.
In a statement, Lagman slammed the 20 “abstentionists” who he accused of “pretending to be minority members” and maintained that Suarez’s election was flawed because:
“The said 20 Representatives have coalesced with the supermajority and/or affliated with the coalition partners, and as majority allies, they cannot choose a minority leader.”
“After abstaining, they are considered independent members of the House for not being aligned either with the majority or minority as provided for in the last paragraph of Sec. 8, Rule 2 of the Rules of the House which unequivocally provides: “Members who choose not to align themselves with the Majority or the Minority shall be considered as independent Members of the House.”
“Rep. Suarez cannot aspire for or be minority leader because after voting for Speaker Alvarez, he is considered to belong to the majority. Again, Sec. 8, Rule 2 of the Rules of the House provides: “Members who vote for the winning candidate for Speaker shall constitute the Majority in the House.”
“The tradition in the House is that the clear runner-up in the contest for Speaker becomes the minority leader and this is Rep. Baguilat, Jr. who garnered 8 votes over Rep. Suarez who got only 7 votes, after the runaway winner, Speaker Alvarez, who had 252 votes.Baguilat’s group is presently contemplating on taking the matter to the Supreme Court.”
In the meantime, Lagman stressed that they remain to be the real and authentic minority and should be referred as such.
“In fact, I would be delivering the counter-SONA today (Wednesday),” Lagman said.