After a sudden demotion from a senior post in Congress, former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is setting the record straight about her botched plans for House leadership.
Arroyo confirmed earlier speculation that she wanted to reclaim the position of House Speaker when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. won in the May 2022 elections. However, her dreams were crushed when Marcos opted for his cousin, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, to be the House Speaker last year.
Since then, Arroyo supposedly abandoned her Speakership dream and accepted Marcos’ decision to pick Romualdez over her.
“When President Marcos won, I wanted to aspire for the Speakership of the House. But it soon became apparent that he was most comfortable with then Congressman Martin Romualdez as Speaker,” Arroyo said in a statement posted on Facebook.
In letting go of her speakership bid, Arroyo recognized the importance of a strong the bond between the President and the Speaker to facilitate the passage of bills.
“I quickly realized the wisdom embedded in that sentiment. In the Philippines, the House leadership has traditionally been closely associated with the sitting President, and this relationship of deep trust between Speaker and President has been beneficial in smoothly enacting the legislative agenda of the President,” she said.
“I think this is acceptable, because in the Philippines, the check and balance needed in any democracy has traditionally been well-provided by the Senate,” she said.
Arroyo opened up about her political moves as she dismissed rumors that she was plotting to oust Romualdez as Speaker.
The former president was earlier stripped of her post as Senior Deputy Speaker and was replaced by her cabalen, Pampanga Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr. She was named Deputy Speaker instead amid the rumored ouster plot.
Arroyo, however, insisted that “being Speaker once more is no longer part of my political objectives.” She even urged her Lakas-CMD party mates to support Romualdez, the party president.
Arroyo’s political journey has been nothing short of intriguing.
After her presidency, Arroyo was elected Pampanga 2nd District’s representative in 2010. She rose to the position of House Speaker in 2018 thanks to the efforts of then Davao City mayor Sara Duterte. The daughter of then President Rodrigo Duterte allegedly convinced majority of House members to remove Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez from the speakership and install Arroyo in his place.
Arroyo served as House Speaker until her retirement in 2019. But she made another comeback, being elected as Pampanga lawmaker once again in 2022.
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