FORGIVE and forget?
Speaker Martin Romualdez and Vice President Sara Duterte have already patched things up after their disagreement over the House leadership’s move to strip Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo the title of senior deputy speaker for allegedly attempting to oust Romualdez, who is a first cousin of President Marcos Jr.
“We’re good,” Romualdez told reporters in Malaysia where he accompanied the President in his three-day state visit. “Pictures are worth a thousand words, you’ve probably seen the photos.”
The Speaker was referring to the photos of him and the Vice President walking arm in arm during the President’s sendoff to Malaysia, where he met with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.
Last May, Arroyo, chairman emeritus of the ruling Lakas-CMD, was demoted to the post of an ordinary deputy speaker for allegedly attempting to oust Romualdez, the party’s president.
In the 18th Congress, Arroyo managed to pull off a coup against then-Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez with the help of now Vice President Sara Duterte who was Davao City mayor at the time.
The former president has denied plotting to remove Romualdez who at that time said “occasional moves to destabilize the House should be nipped in the bud.”
Duterte later resigned from the Lakas-CMD, denouncing what she described as the “political toxicity” and “political power play” at the House. She also issued derogatory remarks believed aimed at Romualdez.
