Philippines: Alvarez offers deputy speaker post to Duterte son

• The ruling PDP-Laban is offering a deputy speaker position to President Duterte’s son and incoming Davao City Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte in case the administration party captures the leadership of the House of Representatives in the 18th Congress, which convenes on 22 Jul 19.
• He said they have broached the suggestion to the President’s son and “he seemed receptive to it.”
• Another Davao City lawmaker, Isidro Ungab of the third district, an ally of the Dutertes, is being eyed to chair the committee on appropriations, the panel that scrutinizes the annual national budget.
• In May 19, the President said he would resign if his son seeks the speakership. In response to his father’s statement, representative-elect Duterte said, “I did not say I want to be speaker… Someone has again whispered the wrong information to you, Mr. President.”
• It was Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez who floated the idea of the President’s son seeking the top House post. Alvarez, who has set his sights again on the speakership, said he would give way to incoming congressman Duterte if the latter was interested in the position.
• Alvarez was speaker from Jul 16 to Jul 18, when administration allies replaced him with former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The President would later repeatedly say in public speeches that it was his daughter who “maneuvered” Alvarez’s ouster. In May 19, Mayor Inday Sara rejected the former speaker’s offer of reconciliation.

External Link: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/06/21/1928359/alvarez-offers-deputy-speaker-post-duterte-son