De Venecia challenger to give up if he loses in secret vote

By Maila Ager INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines--Heeding the call of the opposition, incoming Cebu Representative Pablo Garcia has vowed to surrender his Speakership bid should he lose in secret balloting that he has proposed ahead of the July 23 opening of Congress. Garcia and his supporters, led by Kampi (Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino, Partner of the Free Filipino) president and Camarines Sur Representative Luis Villafuerte, are pushing for an all-party caucus, to include members of the opposition group, to decide who should be the next Speaker. While the opposition has been invited in the caucus, the choice of candidate for the Speakership would only be between Garcia and incumbent Jose de Venecia. Garcia explained that the caucus was aimed only at coming up with one candidate from the administration coalition to run against an opposition candidate during the actual voting on the floor. They had invited the minority bloc in the caucus because both he and De Venecia have supporters from the group, Garcia further explained. "My proposal is to have an all-party caucus. All members of Congress, including the opposition, will be there but the candidates will only be two -- I and the Speaker. Whoever loses will no longer participate in the actual voting on the floor," Garcia said in a phone interview. And the losing candidate in the caucus should agree to abstain during the actual voting on the floor, he added. This way, the opposition can be assured that the Minority Leader will still come from its ranks since Garcia and De Venecia are both allied with the administration coalition. Under House rules, the candidate to get the second highest vote in the Speakership race automatically becomes the Minority Leader. "I'm making this proposal because this will also address the concerns of the opposition that the Minority Leader should come from their ranks. So if I lose in this secret balloting, I will no longer run for the Speaker," Garcia pointed out. "This only proves that I really listen to everybody, to every group. I also want that on the opening day, everything will be smooth already," he said. As of posting time, however, De Venecia has not commented on Garcia's proposal. If the Speaker would reject his offer, Garcia said he would pursue his candidacy and insist that the voting in the plenary be done through secret balloting. After all, Garcia said, the House would have to either adopt its existing rules or approve new ones at the opening of the session where they could propose that voting be done through secret balloting. "We must give each congressman and congresswoman the fullest freedom or opportunity to express their choice and that can be done only through secret balloting," Garcia said.