The Members of the House of Representatives who have declared their intention to run for Speaker all belong to the supermajority and many of them are even seeking the anointment of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Since the declared aspirants, without any exception, are with the coalesced parties of the administration, then they should agree among themselves to field a common administration candidate.

A lone Duterte candidate for Speaker would foreclose the eventually of a losing administration aspirant becoming the majority’s Minority Leader, an aberration which happened in the 17th Congress.

The Minority Leader must (1) represent the genuine opposition in the House; (2) articulate and pursue differing views; (3) act as a courageous sentinel of the people’s rights and sentiments; and (4) not be beholden to the administration nor an adjunct of the supermajority.

A genuine Minority leader can only be assured if he or she is neither a member or a partisan of the administration nor handpicked by the ruling majority.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN