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Sara on speakership contest: I’m not the correct person to endorse

Now that the election is over, elected congressmen have started to vie for House speakership.

The ruling PDP-Laban’s reported frontrunners for speakership are former speaker and Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, PDP-Laban secretary general; Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales; and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte has denied she endorsed Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez as Speaker, and has rejected Alvarez’s reconciliation offer.

“There is no truth to the claims made by Rep. Prospero Pichay that I ‘recommended’ Rep. Martin Romualdez as Speaker of the House. If I did raise his hand during the Hugpong ng Pagbabago rally in Tacloban, I did so because he, just like Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, is supportive of the reform agenda of President Duterte,” the presidential daughter said in statement on Monday night.

Sara confirmed elected Taguig City 1st district Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano’s pronouncement that he did not seek her endorsement.

“He, however, came with a veiled threat, that if I endorse Rep. Velasco for Speaker, I would break up the ‘group’. And this, he said, will affect the presidential elections of 2022,” she said.

Presidential son and elected Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte is reportedly also interested in the speakership. Sara said this should be addressed by their father.

“I am only the Mayor of Davao City. I am not the correct person to endorse someone to be the next speaker. I only have a personal bet but do not intend to influence Congress,” she added.

Sara also rejected Alvarez’s offer of reconciliation as it was “deceiving and utterly lacked sincerity.”

“Unknown to him, he was surreptitiously videotaped when he threatened, after his win in the recent elections in Davao del Norte, “Ipapahiya ko si Sara (I will humiliate Sara),” she said.

“Alvarez was and he remains to be a very dangerous, machiavellian individual who does not deserve peace,” she added.

Alvarez was deposed from speakership and was replaced by former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nation Address last year.

The presidential daughter was reportedly behind the fall of Alvarez, a move that shocked the President’s supporters and allies.

Staff Report

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