PRESS STATEMENT
Office of Rep. Edcel C. Lagman
(LP-Albay)
0916-6406737 / 0918-9120137
16 August 2016

The plenary session yesterday, 15 August 2016, confirmed the following:

1. The formal coronation by the super majority of its chosen “minority leader”, Rep. Danny Suarez.

2. The sinister plot of herding some members of the majority to abstain from the speakership contest and be considered as members of the minority, instead of as independent Members of the House as provided for in the last paragraph of Section 8, Rule 2.

3. The pendulum allegiance of those who abstained and erroneously considered as minority members and who subsequently returned to their “mother ship” in the majority coalition after “electing” a minority leader.

4. The flawed process of applying from the majority to the minority and from the minority to the majority by submitting all of the applications to the Speaker and/or the majority leader contrary to the provisions of the Rules wherein one from the majority who wishes to align with the minority must apply with and secure the consent of the Minority Leader, not the Speaker or Majority Leader.

5. The unauthorized “election” of Rep. Danny Suarez as “minority leader” by the group of “abstentionists” who had no authority to call for a special election of the minority leader, much more elect a minority leader.

6. The ascendancy of numbers over reason and logic and the predisposition of the super majority in stifling a small but authentic minority.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN