CLARK FREEPORT – Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is now third in line of succession to the presidency which she had occupied for nine years up to 2010, after an unprecedented coup installed her as House Speaker before Pres. Duterte’s State of the Nation (SONA) last Monday.
It was a coup that went about for two years as mere rumors. In December 2016, Arroyo tried to cut this short in a statement wherein she said: “It has come to my attention that rumors have been circulating that I will soon be replacing Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. I categorically deny that. I don’t have any plans of taking his place.”
It will also be recalled that also in December, 2002, Arroyo who took over as president after the ouster of President Joseph Estrada from Malacanang, also announced she would not run for president in the 2004 elections. She changed her mind 10 months later.
As Pres. Duterte arrived for the SONA last Monday, Senate Pres. Vicente Sotto and then Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez left their seats onstage at the Batasan building to welcome him.
By this time, supporters of Arroyo had already signed a statement expressing support for her speakership.
With the sound system in the building already turned off , Arroyo went up the stage and was seen twice raising her hand in the gesture of being sworn in, but one supporter first encouraged others to join her on stage before the administering of oath.
The SONA was delayed by one hour and 15 minutes as the President was reported to have presided over the conflict arising from the speakership coup. Alvarez was later seen with Sotto walking towards the stage for the presidential report, seen by observers as a result of bargaining, paving the way for Alvarez’s graceful exit.
Arroyo’s being House Speaker puts her third in line of succession to the president, as specified by the 1987 Constitution. The line of presidential succession follows the order of Vice President, President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Supporters of Arroyo in her Pampanga home province have expressed jubilation over her ascendancy in Congress. After all, she had accomplished much in the province.
But the speakership was not without critics. Sen. Panfilo Lacson, in his Twitter account, said: “The mace was in a maze at the Batasan yesterday. It didn’t know whose authority to symbolize at the opening of the 3rd regular session of the 17th Congress.” “It was an awkward, low, ugly and disgraceful sight for all to see,” he added.
