A video on YouTube is claiming that members of the House of Representatives have plotted to overthrow Martin Romualdez from his post as Speaker and replace him with Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This is false.
Published on Jan. 22, a YouTube channel published the video with the following untrue headline. Some letters were replaced by numbers to evade keyword detection:
“KAKAPASOK LANG Et0 Nakakagulat! Nag-Kudeta sa Kamara? Martin Go0dbye Speaker na Ibinalik si Gl0ria?
(Just in. This is shocking! Congress made a coup. Goodbye, Martin. Gloria [Macapagal Arroyo] returns as speaker).”
The claim is false. Contradicting the 26-minute video’s headline, the narrator said it was actually some social media users – not members of the Lower House – who have been calling for Arroyo to replace Romualdez after he supposedly caused the rift between President Ferdinand Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte.
There is no motion to dismiss Romualdez as House Speaker.
According to Rule III, Section 13 of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the position of the Speaker of the House can be considered “vacant” if the officer dies, resigns, becomes permanently incapacitated or the House declares it so.
The office of the Speaker can be declared vacant through nominal voting by a majority vote of all the House members. During a nominal vote, the Secretary General calls the names of the House members in alphabetical order and they shall state their votes as their names are called.
In the past two years, VERA Files Fact Check has debunked four similar false claims alleging that Romualdez had been expelled or replaced from his post. Three of these instances were triggered each time there were controversial issues related to Vice President Duterte.
This time, false claims of Romualdez’ removal were revived amid continued calls for Duterte’s impeachment. House Secretary General Reginald Velasco, however, said in a Jan. 18 radio interview that support for the vice president’s impeachment has waned due to the nearing elections.
YouTube channel PINAS NEWS HEADLINES (created on July 24, 2017) published the video with the false claim, garnering over 4,200 online interactions and 154,000 views.
