by Roy Pelovello
from Manila Standard Today
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideNation.htm?f=2010/may/18/nation1.isx&d=2010/may/18
The Liberal Party of president-elect Benigno Aquino III is dangling the pork barrel to win over congressmen to its side and thwart the speakership bid of outgoing president and now congressman-elect Gloria Arroyo.
Party spokesman Lorenzo Tanada III said the incoming administration will keep on hold the pork barrel allocation of any congressman who will not vote for the Liberal candidate for House speaker. “That’s the trick the Arroyo administration used on opposition lawmakers,” said Tanada who is being groomed as substitute bet in the event that former mayor and now congressman Feliciano Belmonte Jr. is unable to join the speakership battle.
“We all know the culture in the House; lawmakers need to bring projects to their constituents if they want to show proof of service to their constituents,” Tanada said. “Even if we don’t like to do it, we might just have to just to ensure stability in the House.”
Tanada said the Liberals have only as many as 50 seats in the House which pales in comparison to Arroyo’s Lakas-Kampi- CMD which has 130 congressmen to its side. At least 20 other lawmakers from the party-list groups have expressed support for Arroyo’s speakership bid, according to former congressman Prospero Pichay, Lakas stalwart.
“Admittedly, if it’s only LP, we’d fall short of the number required,” Tanada said.
The vote of at least 141 congressmen or a majority of the 280 members will clinch the speakership.
The Liberals are open to coalition or tactical alliances with other parties, Belmonte said.
The Nacionalista Party of losing presidential bet Manuel Villar is a target for alliance but the LP wants to ensure it would keep control of the House.
“The bigger problem is that since LP is a small group, we might be overwhelmed by these other groups. This is what we’re trying to work on,” Belmonte said.
LP-NP merger thumbed down
The Liberals also came under fire following its overtures to join forces with rival Nacionalista Party of losing presidential candidate Manuel Villar.
Michville A. Rivera, Metro Manila chapter president of the Philippine Association of Campus Student Leaders and former Student Regent of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela, said the LP offer smacks of extreme political opportunism as a “self-serving move” that runs counter to the party’s electoral promise to take the moral high road.
“Where does that leave Mr. Aquino’s self-proclaimed mission of weeding out corruption in the entire bureaucracy?” Rivera asked?
The reality now is that the Liberal Party will forge an alliance with Villar and the Nacionalista Party, notwithstanding their previous negative statements against Villar, Rivera said.
He pointed out that even before Aquino had taken his oath, he was already showing “obvious signs of weakness and flip-flopping that don’t speak well of a strong leader.”
What is the quid-pro-quo in this emerging alliance; what is the bargain?
Volunteerism advocate Daisy Bardoquillo scored the incoming president for engaging in “doublespeak,” trying to mollify suspiscious old allies and associates, while enticing erstwhile enemies with power sharing.
Bardoquillo, information officer of the Green Army and director of the Alyansa ng mga Benepisyaryo ng Pamahalaan, said Aquino’s LP wants to consolidate the fragmented Opposition to capture both the Senate presidency and the House speakership.
She described the unfolding events going towards Aquino’s inaugural as “portentous of the usual division of the spoils among the victors of war.”
from Manila Standard Today
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideNation.htm?f=2010/may/18/nation1.isx&d=2010/may/18
The Liberal Party of president-elect Benigno Aquino III is dangling the pork barrel to win over congressmen to its side and thwart the speakership bid of outgoing president and now congressman-elect Gloria Arroyo.
Party spokesman Lorenzo Tanada III said the incoming administration will keep on hold the pork barrel allocation of any congressman who will not vote for the Liberal candidate for House speaker. “That’s the trick the Arroyo administration used on opposition lawmakers,” said Tanada who is being groomed as substitute bet in the event that former mayor and now congressman Feliciano Belmonte Jr. is unable to join the speakership battle.
“We all know the culture in the House; lawmakers need to bring projects to their constituents if they want to show proof of service to their constituents,” Tanada said. “Even if we don’t like to do it, we might just have to just to ensure stability in the House.”
Tanada said the Liberals have only as many as 50 seats in the House which pales in comparison to Arroyo’s Lakas-Kampi- CMD which has 130 congressmen to its side. At least 20 other lawmakers from the party-list groups have expressed support for Arroyo’s speakership bid, according to former congressman Prospero Pichay, Lakas stalwart.
“Admittedly, if it’s only LP, we’d fall short of the number required,” Tanada said.
The vote of at least 141 congressmen or a majority of the 280 members will clinch the speakership.
The Liberals are open to coalition or tactical alliances with other parties, Belmonte said.
The Nacionalista Party of losing presidential bet Manuel Villar is a target for alliance but the LP wants to ensure it would keep control of the House.
“The bigger problem is that since LP is a small group, we might be overwhelmed by these other groups. This is what we’re trying to work on,” Belmonte said.
LP-NP merger thumbed down
The Liberals also came under fire following its overtures to join forces with rival Nacionalista Party of losing presidential candidate Manuel Villar.
Michville A. Rivera, Metro Manila chapter president of the Philippine Association of Campus Student Leaders and former Student Regent of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela, said the LP offer smacks of extreme political opportunism as a “self-serving move” that runs counter to the party’s electoral promise to take the moral high road.
“Where does that leave Mr. Aquino’s self-proclaimed mission of weeding out corruption in the entire bureaucracy?” Rivera asked?
The reality now is that the Liberal Party will forge an alliance with Villar and the Nacionalista Party, notwithstanding their previous negative statements against Villar, Rivera said.
He pointed out that even before Aquino had taken his oath, he was already showing “obvious signs of weakness and flip-flopping that don’t speak well of a strong leader.”
What is the quid-pro-quo in this emerging alliance; what is the bargain?
Volunteerism advocate Daisy Bardoquillo scored the incoming president for engaging in “doublespeak,” trying to mollify suspiscious old allies and associates, while enticing erstwhile enemies with power sharing.
Bardoquillo, information officer of the Green Army and director of the Alyansa ng mga Benepisyaryo ng Pamahalaan, said Aquino’s LP wants to consolidate the fragmented Opposition to capture both the Senate presidency and the House speakership.
She described the unfolding events going towards Aquino’s inaugural as “portentous of the usual division of the spoils among the victors of war.”
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