It's a 'win-win' for Arroyo

Source: Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—If President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wins as representative of the second district of Pampanga, loses the fight for the speakership, but retains the loyalty of 90 other members of the House, she can maneuver this group into a potent bloc that can “undermine” her successor in Malacañang.

Makati Mayor and vice presidential candidate Jejomar Binay warned of this post-election scenario in reaction to the Inquirer report Friday that Ms Arroyo had the numbers to win the speakership.

“If Ms Arroyo captures just one-third of the House of Representatives, then she will hurdle the constitutional threshold of impeaching Malacañang’s [new] occupant,” Binay said in a statement.

He added: “Whether she is Speaker or minority leader of the House, with 90 congressmen behind her she is in a position to undermine the next president.

“It will be a win-win situation for her. If she gets 136 members of the 270-person House, she ascends to the Speaker’s throne. If she loses and becomes the minority leader with 90 diehards, she can still impeach her successor.”

House as command post

Binay said it was becoming clear that Ms Arroyo would use the House as “a command post from where she will direct the siege of the [new] presidency.”

“With just 90 members, she can dangle the ‘impeachment Sword of Damocles’ over the head of [her successor]. If she succeeds in sewing up enough votes to [get herself elected] as Speaker, she can do a lot of mischief,” he said.

According to Binay, Ms Arroyo is “clearly buying very costly political insurance.”

“Because she knows she will at least be investigated for abuses she committed in her nine years in power, she is building up her retaliatory capability,” he said.

But Ms Arroyo will “first attempt to strike a deal” with her successor, Binay said.

He said a new administration “with a backbone as hard as leche flan” might accept that deal, but not, he claimed, that led by Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino standard-bearer Joseph Estrada and himself.

“Laban na kung laban (We will put up a fight). She cannot blackmail us,” he said.

‘Perhaps under Villar’

The emergence of Ms Arroyo as Speaker of the House can only be possible under a Villar administration, according to Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno Aquino III.

At a press conference Friday in Valenzuela City, Aquino said he doubted that Ms Arroyo could become Speaker.

“As you know, after [the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution], there has been no Speaker who was not allied with the [new] administration. [Ms Arroyo] has exploited this to a very large extent. I doubt that if she is no longer in Malacañang, all the people [in the House] will still be her allies,” he said.

(In an earlier interview, Aquino said that since the President controlled the release of the pork barrel funds, the members of the House were likely to base their alliances not on past loyalties but on whoever was occupying Malacañang.)

Aquino, however, said it might be possible for Ms Arroyo to become the Speaker if Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Sen. Manuel Villar wins the presidency.

He made the remark in reference to continuing talk that Villar was Ms Arroyo’s secret candidate.

But he added that he could not speak on Villar’s behalf.

‘Prime Minister Arroyo’

Bagumbayan standard-bearer Sen. Richard Gordon issued his own warning in reaction to the numbers purportedly likely to clinch the speakership for Ms Arroyo.

“They are going to amend the Constitution and install her as prime minister!” Gordon said, adding that he would not allow such a development under his administration should he win as president.

“I will oppose that,” he said.

Gordon went on to call on voters all over the country to vote wisely: “People who don’t want that [scenario] to happen should not vote for her in Pampanga.”

In an earlier interview, Gordon told the Inquirer that he was against Ms Arroyo’s decision to seek a seat in the House.

“I think she is trying to protect herself,” he said.

If Ms Arroyo wins as a congresswoman, Gordon said, she would enjoy immunity from arrest for offenses carrying less than six years’ imprisonment as penalty.

“I don’t favor her running for Congress. But this is a free country. If the people in Pampanga see it wise enough for them to have a representative in the person of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the whole country cannot impose on Pampanga,” he said.

But Ms Arroyo will not go unchallenged under a Gordon administration.

“I will support a Speaker who will follow my program and who will work with me. I will choose someone who is responsible,” Gordon told reporters and volunteers of the Philippine National Red Cross (Quezon City chapter) Friday afternoon.

He then took a swipe at Villar who once served as Speaker.

“But what did he do?” Gordon said, adding that while no significant legislation to benefit the poor was produced under Villar’s speakership, he was now presenting himself as a propoor candidate. With reports from Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. and Edson C. Tandoc Jr.