Andaya, pinagbibitiw bilang Majority Leader

Magbitiw bilang Majority Leader at sumali sa oposisyon.

Ito ang payo ni Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte sa kanyang province-mate na si Majority Leader Rolando Andaya kahapon sa patuloy na pag-init ng kanilang local rivalry na umabot na sa House of Representatives.

“Andaya—if he has any sense of delicadeza left in him—owes it to himself, his peers in the House of Representatives and to the Filipino people in general to resign right away as House Majority Leader, given that he has surprisingly issued a statement scoffing at his premier post as a ‘burden’ and act of ‘forced labor’ that he had supposedly wanted to be relieved off last year,” ani Villafuerte.

Nauna rito ay nagpahayag si Andaya, kumakatawan sa 1st district ng Camarines Sur, ng pagkadismaya sa kanyang puwesto, na nakuha lamang niya noong Hulyo 2018 nang maging Speaker si Pampanga 2nd district Representative Gloria MacapagalArroyo.

“When this was first offered to me, I begged off a hundred times. Nagtago pa nga ako… Sabi ko six months lang maximum, then please release me. This job has tied me down in Manila when I should be focusing in Camarines Sur,” ani Andaya, namumuno sa makapangyarihang Rules Committee.

Tatakbo si Andaya bilang governor ng lalawigan – at makakalaban niya ang anak ni Villafuerte na si incumbent Governor Migz Villafuerte.

Pinuna ng matandang Villafuerte ang imbestigasyon ng Majority Leader sa mga diumano’y iregularidad na pinasok Department of Budget and Management (DBM) kaugnay sa kontrobersyal na multi-million peso anti-flood projects sa Bicol region. Ayon kay Villafuerte, nadiskaril nito ang pagapruba ng Kongreso sa naantala nang 2019 national budget na nagkakahalaga ng P3.757 trilyon.

“Better yet, Andaya should first join the opposition and then rush headlong into his sham congressional inquiry, especially because he has obviously been sleeping with the enemy, as evidenced by his staging of the initial anti-Palace probe in Naga City last January 3 in tandem with the House Minority Bloc,” ani Villafuerte.

Ang Minority Bloc ay pinamumunuan ni Quezon 3rd district Rep. Danilo Suarez.

Samantala, sinabi ni House Minority Leader at Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, na dapat nang i-subpoena si Diokno ng House Committee on Rules kapag hindi pa rin nito sinipot ang pagdinig ng Mababang Kapulungan sa Martes kaugnay sa diumano’y budget insertions sa 2019 proposed General Appropriations Act (GAA).

“We must [compel Sec. Diokno to attend the hearing]. Definitely ‘pag hindi siya mag-attend, isu-subpoena namin siya,” ani Suarez.