Congress row delays Duterte speech, rebel deal
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — A leadership row erupted in the Philippine House of Representatives on live TV Monday, delaying President Rodrigo Duterte’s delivery of his annual state of the nation address and passage of crucial Muslim autonomy legislation aimed at ending one of Asia’s longest Islamic rebellions.
As Duterte arrived on a helicopter in the heavily secured congressional complex, Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, backed by dozens of allied legislators, took the main seat in the centre stage of the House’s plenary hall in a sign that she was taking over the post of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
Arroyo, a former president, tried to speak from the stage during the dramatic standoff but her microphone was turned off. She tried to yell, apparently to explain what was happening, but later stepped down from the stage, waving at the crowd.
Alvarez, along with Senate President Vicente Sotto III, fetched Duterte and led the visibly confused leader to a holding room as the dispute over House leadership unfolded in the chamber, which was packed with foreign diplomats, legislators and other dignitaries. Alvarez and Arroyo are close Duterte supporters in the 292-member
House, which is largely dominated by the president’s allies.
“They chose to disrespect their own president and attend to their own ambitions in full view of the nation. For almost an hour, it seemed that nobody was in control,” opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros said.
“This is the true state of the nation. It is petty infighting, backstabbing, and brinkmanship, all done at the people’s expense,” Hontiveros said.
Others called the squabble a “circus” that bared a deep crack in Duterte’s ruling coalition. An arrangement was later reached allowing Alvarez to lead the joint session with Sotto to break the impasse, which delayed the president’s speech for more than an hour.
Backed by nearly 200 legislators, Arroyo was sworn in late Monday as the new House speaker in an impressive political comeback. The 71-year-old ex-economics professor and classmate of former U.S. president Bill Clinton at Georgetown University was detained in a hospital in 2012 for nearly four years for alleged large-scale corruption but the Supreme Court dismissed the case and ordered her freed.
The leadership row earlier prevented the House from ratifying a Muslim autonomy bill that was part of a peace deal with the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Earlier Monday, the Senate unanimously ratified the bill, which would establish a new Bangsamoro autonomous region in the country’s south, but House members adjourned early due to the infighting. The government had negotiated the pact for more than two decades with the largest Muslim insurgent group in the south.
Duterte had been expected to sign the autonomy bill into law on Monday and highlight it in his state of the nation speech. The peace deal, which he promised to sign within 48 hours, is a bright spot in his two-year presidency, which has come under heavy criticism over his human rights record, deadly anti-drug crackdown and vulgar language.
Thousands of flag-waving protesters rallied outside the House and burned his effigy. They condemned him for the drug killings and for failing to ease poverty and inflation.