House sets revamp after Holy Week break  

March 15, 2017

The leadership of the House of Representatives said the posts of lawmakers who voted against the death penalty bill, led Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, will be declared as vacant on May 2, when Congress resumes. “If that will be seen as burning the bridges, then so be it,” said Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. "I cannot do something about it.” “It will happen after the break. We are just waiting for the nominees from the respective parties,” said Alvarez, adding House leaders who will lose their juicy positions may still remain in the supermajority. Those who voted no against the passage of death penalty bill who may lose their posts include former President-turned Deputy Speaker and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Sato, Batangas Rep. Vilma Santos-Recto, Quezon City Rep. Jose Christopher Belmonte, and Dinagat Islands Rep. Kaka Bag-ao. Arroyo, as president, signed into the law removing the death penalty in 2006. Sato is a member of the the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA), Santos-Recto heads the House committee on civil service and professional regulation, Belmonte leads the House committee on land use and Bag-ao is the chairperson of the House committee on people’s participation. Even the left-leaning party-list lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc will not be spared, said Alvarez. “We have to apply the same rule,” Alvarez said. DMS