CEBU Rep. Vicent Franco Frasco may have refused to support the call of the National Unity Party’s (NUP) for the retention of Speaker Martin Romualdez as head of the incoming 20th Con-gress to arm-twist the House leader into keeping him his post as deputy speaker, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said yesterday.
Villafuerte, the president of the NUP, the second largest political party in Congress, accused Frasco of pushing for his personal agenda while the NUP, along with the other member-parties of the supermajority coalition has remained committed to Romualdez and vowed to support President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s “Bagong Pilipinas” initiative.
“Duke (Frasco) claims he had withdrawn his support for Speaker Martin supposedly because the quest for national unity on the Marcos presidency has been ‘undermined by political and per-sonal interests. This certainly is highfalutin language because if there is anyone guilty of sowing disunity and discord and advancing political and personal interests, it is Duke himself,” Villafuer-te said.
The NUP earlier expelled Frasco as a member of the party for going against the group’s official position to support Romualdez’s bid to be retained as the leader of the lower house in the 20th Congress.
“Duke seems to be the one advancing his own selfish personal and partisan interests,” Villafuer-te said, raising suspicion that Frasco “has slighted the official NUP position of support for Cong. Martin as a shrewd political ploy to arm-twist the Speaker into keeping him as deputy speaker in the incoming Congress.”
Frasco, in a Facebook post yesterday, defended his refusal to sign the May 14 manifesto of the NUP, saying the House should be a “partner in building the country up, not a platform for fur-ther sowing discord.”
“This decision is not about creating further division. I simply believe the House of Representa-tives can, and must, do better. We should be a partner in building the country up, not a platform for further discord,” Frasco said.
He added: “At this critical time in our nation, I believe we need leadership in the House that unites rather than divides. Leadership that reinforces our shared vision and strengthens the path forward for our country.”
While he did not specify which act of the House leadership constituted “sowing discord,” the lawmaker was obviously referring to the political row between Romualdez and Vice President Sara Duterte, who is facing an impeachment trial in the Senate.
“A shared frustration has emerged. There is deep disappointment that the unity our people once hoped for has been steadily undermined by political and personal interests,” Frasco said.
Villafuerte however said that members of the supermajority coalition, with Frasco’s exception, “are four-square behind Speaker Martin (Romualdez) to remain at the helm of the House of Representatives in the next Congress to help stay the course of President Marcos’ agenda of better lives for all Filipinos.”
“So we actually do not know what discord he is talking about,” said the outgoing lawmaker and newly elected governor of Camarines Sur. “Duke was expelled last week for sowing disunity and discord himself in making his unilateral move to withdraw support from Congressman Martin in blatant contravention of the NUP’s unanimous support for the Speaker to keep his post in the next Congress — and without first consulting our party.”
While Frasco claims that the decision was made after consulting with other legislators as well as his leaders and constituents, he never raised the matter before the NUP.
“Such consultations could just be a figment of his imagination. And if indeed there were such consultations, as a true-blue NUP member, he should have first taken this matter up with the party leadership instead of going directly to the media without prior party discussions,” Vil-lanueva said.
Villafuerte alleged Frasco’s action “was anathema to the NUP’s long-standing position for our members to act as one and speak with one voice — which made his membership in our party untenable at this point.”
“It has been a long-standing policy of the NUP for all of us to speak and act as one. Going to the media to publicly oppose our party position, especially without prior consultation with any of our party officers, is punishable with expulsion from the NUP,” he stressed.
While the party respects the individual decision of a member not to sign the manifesto, Villa-fuerte said “it is equally important not to conflate a singular position with the sentiment of the institution as a whole.”
“The House of Representatives remains focused, forward-looking, and united in its mission to deliver for the Filipino people,” he said. “At this critical time in our national life, the Filipino people deserve less noise and more action. The House, under the leadership of Speaker Martin, will continue to do its work — with clarity, competence, and conviction.”
Deputy Speaker David Suarez of Quezon laughed off Frasco’s decision to withdraw support for the Speaker, reminding him that the overwhelming backing of almost 300 lawmakers “is already a compelling demonstration of unity.”
House spokesman Princess Abante on Sunday said that as of Saturday, 285 lawmakers remain committed in endorsing Romualdez to lead the 20th Congress amid reports that he could be challenged by Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco.
“I think that is a true sign of unity when it comes to the members of the House of Representa-tives wherein we want continuity, we want true leadership that can address the issues being faced by our country,” Suarez said.
