‘GMA will be a productive speaker’
SPEAKER Gloria Arroyo of Pampanga will be productive in her short stint as leader of the House of Representatives, her allies said Sunday.
Deputy Speaker Fredenil Castro of Capiz reacted to the comment made by former president Benigno Aquino 3rd that the rise of Arroyo as speaker would hardly make a dent in Congress.
“What the other speaker could not do considering the time constraint, Speaker Arroyo can do. If what he meant was to underestimate Speaker Arroyo’s ability to produce results, Mr. Aquino is downright wrong,” Castro told The Manila Times.
“Mr. Aquino should understand that anyone in the same shoes as Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo shall be judged on the output she can produce based on the limited months available to her and not on the output one can produce for three years,” Castro, a member of the National Unity Party, added.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles echoed Castro, saying: “The House of Representatives under the new leadership will be a productive House and we challenge ourselves to accomplish even more as we enter the last third of the term of this Congress…”
Rep. Albee Benitez of Negros Occidental, the point person of the ruling PDP-Laban in the House, sneered at the comment made by former president Aquino, noting that some lawmakers from Aquino’s own Liberal Party (LP) voted for Arroyo as speaker.
“Maybe the LP lawmakers who voted for her should be questioned about that (sentiments of the former president),” Benitez said.
Among the LP lawmakers who voted for Arroyo were former speaker Feliciano Belmonte of Quezon City and Raul del Mar of Cebu.
At least 12 LP lawmakers, however, abstained and claimed that they were the duly constituted minority bloc.
Arroyo said in an earlier interview that she would push for the bill establishing a new Department of Disaster Reduction and Management.
On Sunday, Ambassadors Amanda Gorely of Australia, Dong-man Han of South Korea and U Win Naing of Myanmar paid a courtesy call on Arroyo to congratulate her on her election as House speaker.
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