PAMPANGA Rep. Gloria Arroyo yesterday refused to discuss the alleged coup attempt against Speaker Martin Romualdez, particularly what the two of them briefly talked about at the plenary rostrum on Monday night when she took her oath as a regular deputy speaker, a demotion from senior deputy speaker.
“I’ve already given my statement. That’s enough,” a smiling Arroyo repeatedly said when asked by reporters for comment right after she attended a hearing of the House committee on basic education.
Arroyo has denied plotting a coup against Romualdez, saying that some of her actions “may have been misconstrued, such as my recent trip with a delegation of congressmen to Korea for some official meetings.”
The former president, the speaker in the 18th Congress, said she no longer aspires for the top House post but admitted she wanted to have a shot at it when President Marcos Jr. won in the 2022 national elections.
Presidential cousin Romualdez, president of the ruling Lakas-CMD, and Arroyo, the party’s chairman emeritus, joined each other at the rostrum on Monday night when the former president took her oath as a regular deputy speaker.
The Speaker also administered the oath to new senior deputy speaker Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr. of Pampanga, who was applauded by lawmakers along with Arroyo as they walked together to the rostrum.
At the rostrum, Romualdez showed his respect to Arroyo by bowing his head and placing it on the former president’s hand, a gesture called “pagmamano” in Filipino. Gonzales made the same gesture, drawing applause from lawmakers in the plenary.
Yesterday, the Speaker repeated the gesture upon seeing the former president during the oath-taking ceremony for 19 new members of the ruling party at the House.
“We welcome our new members and we are happy that they affiliated themselves with Lakas-CMD, which has committed itself to support President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his Agenda for Prosperity and eight-point socio-economic development road map,” Romualdez said.
Among the party officials who attended the event were majority leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, Lakas executive vice president, and Agusan del Norte Rep. Jose Aquino II, secretary general.
Fourteen of the 19 new members physically attended the oath-taking ceremony while four others submitted their oath of membership as Lakas-CMD.
