The ruling PDP-Laban and the Liberal Party (LP) in the House of Representatives are expected to sign a coalition agreement next week, incoming speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said yesterday.
The signing will come after almost a month of negotiations.
Alvarez said the LP, led by Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr., could maintain its present membership in the House.
Reached for comment, Belmonte said negotiations between the two parties were still ongoing.
The ruling party, which had only three House members, including Alvarez, has been trying to raid the ranks of the LP and other groups. It now claims to have more than 90 members.
Alvarez swore in six new members yesterday, including Bai Sandra Sema of Maguindanao, Sol Aragones of Laguna, Ann Hofer of Zamboanga Sibugay and Maria Collantes of Batangas.
Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr., a Liberal Party member, earlier said that the Alvarez group has set conditions for those who want to join the so-called supermajority.
Baguilat said aside from supporting the legislative agenda of the next administration, PDP-Laban would like defectors to formally join the incoming administration party.
“They would like those joining the supermajority to take their oath as PDP-Laban members,” he said, adding this particular condition has given many LP members a dilemma, since they would like to join the supermajority but at the same time keep their LP membership.
Baguilat said the LP “is not getting fair treatment.”
“There is no offer of a deputy speakership and committee posts from the presumptive speaker, unlike the parties which have signed an alliance agreement with PDP-Laban. Once the signing was over, they got their deputy speakership post and committee assignments,” he said.
The lawmaker said Alvarez is treating LP members “as second-class citizens.”
He urged his remaining LP colleagues not to defect to the incoming ruling party and to join him in the minority.
“Sure, the majority can reduce us to ‘bite-size,’ but we will be a strong and fearless opposition,” he said, recalling Alvarez’s description of what would remain of the LP after the defections.
He said the “natural course” for LP members to take is to be in the minority.
“Our candidate for president lost to the candidate of the PDP-Laban. It’s just natural that we should be in the opposition,” he added.
source: news.yahoo.com