FORMER House majority leader Rodolfo Fariñas said Thursday, August 2, that their minority bloc has formally declared ABS Party-list Representative Eugene De Vera as their new minority leader.
He said the election happened around 9 a.m. Thursday, August 2.
"In our meeting at 9 a.m. today, of the duly constituted minority in the House of Representatives as held in the case of Baguilat et al vs. Alvarez et al (G.R. No. 227757, July 25, 2017), we unanimously elected Deputy Minority Leader Representative Michael Eugene De Vera as the new minority leader," Fariñas announced in a text message.
He said the minority group led by De Vera now has the following members:
1. Representative Michael Eugene De Vera
2. Representative Rodito Albano III
3. Representative Pantaleon Alvarez
4. Representative Juan Pablo Bondoc
5. Representative Monsour Del Rosario
6. Representative Rodolfo Fariñas
7. Representative Ruwell Peter Gonzaga
8. Representative Roger Mercado
9. Representative Mauyag Papandayan Jr.
10. Representative Aileen Radaza
11. Representative Lucy Torres-Gomez
12. Representative Arnel Ty
13. Representative Reynaldo Umali
Even before De Vera was elected minority leader, Fariñas already claimed that the former is now the acting minority leader as he is the only high ranking official of the minority led by Representative Danilo Suarez who did not vote for Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as House Speaker.
Fariñas, invoking Rule 2 Section 8 of the House Rules, said that since Suarez and the other officials of the minority bloc voted for Arroyo, they are now members of the majority.
The camp of Suarez, which has at least 21 members as of 4 p.m. Thursday, maintained that they are still the duly-constituted minority and Suarez is still the minority leader, as only the office of the Speaker was declared vacant last July 23.
Suarez, in an interview on Wednesday, August 1, told the De Vera-led minority and the Liberal Party minority bloc led by Representative Miro Quimbo to stop contesting for the minority leadership.
Suarez argued that even the plenary recognizes his group as the duly-constituted minority.
It is unclear as to who will break the impasse between the three minority factions which emerged following the election of Arroyo as House Speaker in the evening of President Rodrigo Duterte's State of the Nation Address last July 23.
The camp of Quimbo and Fariñas earlier said they consider bringing their appeal to be recognized as the duly-constituted minority before the Supreme Court if the House will continue to recognize Suarez's group as the legitimate minority bloc. (VoxPop Philippines)
