Arroyo’s Successor;

Sotto To Succeed Himself

Yen Makabenta
06/13/2019
Manila Times

FROM a distance, it looks like the House of Representatives,

with a daunting 250 members, has more coherence and
direction in organizing itself for the opening of the 18th
Congress on July 22.

In contrast, the much smaller Senate, with only 24 members,

is tracking a much more confused and contentious course.
The chamber membership is divided because of a lack of
party organization and the members’ jockeying for
committees.

It looks like Rep. Martin Romualdez of Leyte has the pole

position in the race for House speaker. But he appears to
have serious competition.

Sen. Vicente Sotto 3rd is the frontrunner for Senate president

in the estimate of his cohorts in the chamber,especially those
who, like him, are termed-out senators. Behind his back,
some senators are not so sure.

Centripetal and centrifugal forces

Three political scientists, in their authoritative study of the US

Congress (Congress and Its Members, CQ Press, Washington,
2008), perceptively wrote that political parties and committee
competition exert a polar influence on the legislature.

These two principles are often in conflict.

The party principle organizes the Congress. The committee

principle shapes the measures Congress acts upon.
The first emphasizes aggregation. The second highlights
fragmentation.

Party leaders strive to provide a centripetal influence on the

organization of Congress for collective action. The committee
chairs, on the other hand, exert a centrifugal influence on the
legislature. They disperse its policymaking authority.

Centripetal, according to the Random House Dictionary,

means moving or directed toward the center. Centrifugal
means moving or directed away from the center.

The characterization of centripetal and centrifugal forces

aptly describes our Congress today. Party leadership is the
reason why the House is now getting together for collective
action. Uncertainty about leadership and committee
competition explain why the Senate could still fragment into
many parts.

Tasks of Congress leaders

The role of an active and serving political party in the

organization of Congress is paramount.

The majority party in the House controls not only the

leadership posts and the chamber’s agenda of activities, but
also the chairmanships and majorities on committees and
subcommittees.

The Speaker is elected by the members of the House of

Representatives.

Before the beginning of each new Congress, senators and

representatives elect their top leaders by secret ballot in their
party caucuses. Although the whole House votes for the
Speaker, the election is pro forma. With straight party voting,
the modern rule on this is, the majority party or coalition
always elects the speaker.

The same is the case with the Senate president.

The tasks of the House speaker and Senate president are

basically similar:

1. To bring coherence, direction and efficiency to their

respective legislative chamber.

2. To provide institutional maintenance so that Congress and

its members can perform their lawmaking and oversight
duties effectively, and preserve Congress’ reputation and
integrity.

3. To provide party maintenance by creating winning

coalitions among partisan colleagues and providing
assistance to party members.

Arroyo’s successor

The new House stands to benefit from Speaker Gloria

Macapagal Arroyo’s strong leadership of the chamber.

She will leave office on June 30 with much of the majority

coalition that propelled her to the top still intact after the
recent elections. That includes the political party she
organized, Kampi, and the other political parties in coalition
with the administration.

Romualdez, the current president of Kampi, appears to be the

designated choice of the coalition behind Arroyo.

He looks close to reaping support from some victorious

legislators of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago of Davao City Mayor
Sara Duterte and some members of PDP-Laban. The latter
with 95 members in the new House is not ready to yield the
field. Its former president, Sen. Koko Pimentel, has declared
that the next speaker should come from PDP-Laban. Former
speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has put in a bid to return as
speaker, but he apparently has nowhere to go.

The outcome of the speaker’s race may have been sealed

when President Duterte casually addressed Romualdez as
“Mr. Speaker” at the recent Sangley rites in Cavite.

Another aspirant, Alan Peter Cayetano, must be crying his

heart out in his hole in Taguig. DU30 has evidently forgotten
him as his running mate in the 2016 elections.

Sotto wants to succeed himself

In the Senate, Sen. Vicente Sotto 3rd wants to succeed

himself based on a fuzzy principle called “equity of the
incumbent.”

Equity of the incumbent is a term from the infancy of

Philippine politics dating back to pre-war days. It simply
means that in any race, the incumbent should be given
preference in getting officially anointed (and funded). This is
used principally in the selection of candidates by a political
party, particularly an administration party. In the Senate, the
idea has also been used in the selection of chairs for various
committees.

Senator Sotto is subtly trying to transfer the equity rule to his

own bid to be anointed as the majority’s choice for Senate
president of the18th Congress.

There is one big problem. He is not a member of the

President’s political party, PDP-Laban. He is a member of the
Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), which pointedly fielded
its own candidates in the recent elections.
Judging by a recent press release, Sotto is trying to mold a
super-majority behind his candidacy.

Is that majority only in the Senate? Can it happen without

President Duterte blessing it?

What are the freshmen senators, Bong Go, Bato dela Rosa
and Francis Tolentino doing in this bandwagon for Sotto?

Did this political turn arise mainly from the wild scramble for
committees?

Time to get serious

The truth is the prospective Senate (veterans and freshmen

included) has not yet begun to seriously think about
organizing for the 18th Congress. The talk at this point has
chiefly revolved around self-interest, and not on policy goals
and legislative agenda.

Will the agenda include constitutional reform?

But some members of Sotto’s super-majority, notably

Senators Ping Lacson and Grace Poe, are vehemently against
any kind of constitutional amendment. Sotto has also
contemplated coalescing with members of the opposition.

Ladies and gentlemen of the new Senate: I put I to you that it

is time to really get serious about organizing for the work of
the Senate in the 18th Congress.