Hours before the anticipated leadership change in the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno said Speaker Martin Romualdez is resigning and that he had already selected his replacement, Deputy Speaker Faustino “Bodjie” Dy III of Isabela.
This needs context. The Rules of the House does not empower a speaker to choose his successor before resigning.
STATEMENT
Quoting Romualdez, Puno, a representative from Antipolo City, told ANC’s Headstart on Sept. 17:
“He says that ‘I told the president [Marcos] already that I’m resigning my position tomorrow,’ which is today. So we said, ‘Why not [take a] leave?’ … He says, and then, ‘I’m asking all of you to support the nominee that I have discussed already with our majority leader.’ He says it’s Deputy Speaker Bodjie Dy. We were quiet for a while, ‘no. Nobody was reacting. But after a while, obviously, we just decided to just accept his decision.”
WATCH: ANC 24/7 official YouTube page, Headstart: House Deputy Speaker Ronald Puno on Romualdez resignation, budget anomalies, Rep. Barzaga, 4:05-4:16; 5:02 to 5:28
FACT
The Rules of the House provides in Section 11 that “whenever there is a vacancy, the speaker shall be elected by a majority vote of all the members.” Nowhere in the rules provides that the speaker is empowered to choose or nominate his successor before he steps down.
Section 13 says a majority of the deputy speakers must choose an acting speaker from among themselves to assume the duties of the speaker who dies, resigns or is permanently incapacitated, until a new speaker is elected.
According to Rule IV, the House speaker at any point in their tenure may designate a temporary presiding officer after informing the deputy speakers, but this position is only good for one day.
Puno told DZMM TeleRadyo on Sept. 17 that Romualdez told party leaders he intended to resign as House speaker to “save the reputation” of the legislative chamber in light of controversies surrounding anomalous flood control projects.
The lawmaker from Antipolo said Romualdez called party leaders in the House to a meeting on Tuesday afternoon after he talked to President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr in Malacanang and asked them to support his chosen successor, Deputy Speaker Faustino “Bodjie” Dy of Isabela. Dy leads the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, the president’s political party, at the House.
When the House resumed its plenary session later in the day, Romualdez announced his resignation in a five-minute speech, after which Majority Leader Sandro Marcos immediately moved for the nomination of the new House speaker. Quezon City Rep. Ralph Tulfo nominated Dy, which was quickly seconded by Rep. Antonio Albano of Isabela. There were no other nominees.
