By Junex Doronio

SAYING THAT SHE WAS OUT OF COUNTRY when a resolution backing the leadership of Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, former President and now Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday declared her support for the House leader.

“I’m currently out of the country. However, as I always said, I continue to support the leadership of Speaker Romualdez,” Macapagal-Arroyo said in a brief statement to the media when her office was asked why she was not a co-author of House Resolution 1414.

FPGMA was noticeably absent when HR 1414 was being circulated that upheld the “integrity and dignity” of the House and support for Romualdez.

This move transpired after former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte called the lower chamber as the “most corrupt institution” in apparent reaction to the stripping of his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte’s P650-million total of confidential funds for 2024.

The House adopted HR 1414 on Monday, November 6, with Romualdez promising that he is ready to fight for the House’s decision to reallocate the confidential funds to the agencies that safeguard the country’s security and sovereignty in the face of Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea.

During the six-year-term of FPRRD, the Philippines was “friendly” to China but with the assumption of the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. the country has rekindled “warm ties” with the United States.

Some political observers told Maharlika NuMedia that FPGMA now seems to be shifting her support from VP Duterte to Romualdez which may “affect Inday Sara’s chances” in the 2028 presidential race.

(ai/mnm)

By Junex Doronio

DESPITE HER RECENT CONGRATULATORY remarks on the high trust rating of Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may still lose her post as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives if she does not dare to openly assail former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for calling the lower chamber as “the most rotten institution.”

Unconfirmed rumors swirled at the House of Representatives that Isabela Rep. Tonypet Albano will likely fill in the anticipated vacancy in the Deputy Speaker post if FPGMA remains silent and her loyalty to the institution that she’s a member of also remains “dubious”.

“I would like to congratulate House Speaker and Lakas President Martin Romualdez on the recent OCTA Research Report reflecting a +6% increase in Trust Rating to 60%,” FPGMA said in a statement last November 2.

Macapagal-Arroyo’s congratulatory remarks on Romualdez caught many by surprise as the former president is widely known to be the political mentor of Vice President Sara Duterte who is also casting a moist eye on the 2028 presidency.

But she still reportedly refused to join the House leadership in condemning FPRRD for maligning the lower chamber and even threatening ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro whom he accused as “communist”.

(ai/mnm)

By Junex Doronio

FIRST, SHE WAS UNCEREMONIOUSLY DEMOTED from Senior Deputy House Speaker to a mere Deputy House Speaker.

Now, the former president of the land and now Pampanga lawmaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo faces possible suspension from the House of Representatives, dominated by political forces loyal to Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez.

How?

Political pundits claimed this might work if the Ombudsman accedes to a request to place Arroyo under preventive suspension based on the complaint claiming that she grossly misused P38 billion worth of public funds off the Malampaya natural gas plant in Palawan during her presidency.

Maharlika NuMedia gathered that on September 28, Department of Energy Undersecretary Petronilo Ilagan who is now connected with the National Association of Energy Consumers for Reforms, Inc. (Nasecore) and Rogelio Reyes of  Boses ng Konsyumer Alliance, Inc. filed a 24-page complaint against the former president and now Pampanga Rep. GMA before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The complainants said the Ombudsman should file 96 counts of malversation and 96 counts of graft against Arroyo for the “whimsical disbursement” of the P38 billion Malampaya fund government revenues off the Camago-Malampaya Reservoir service contract.

They averred that placing Arroyo under preventive suspension would prevent her from suppressing evidence.

The former chief executive is widely known as the political mentor of Vice President Sara Duterte who is expected to run for president in 2028, with Senator Imee Marcos as her running mate.

It may also be recalled that the then-presidential daughter Sara was instrumental in ousting Davao del Norte Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez as Speaker and replacing him with Arroyo.

The House of Representatives is now dominated by politicians loyal to Romualdez who is also reportedly keeping a moist eye on the 2028 presidency.

Some political observers told Maharlika NuMedia that “neutralizing GMA” by booting her out of the lower chamber will somehow enable Romualdez to overtake Sara’s popularity for the 2028 presidential race.

(ai/mnm)