(Eagle News)–In these pictures released by Bong Go on Wednesday night, President Rodrigo Duterte, who is in Japan, is seen with Reps. Lord Allan Velasco and Martin Romualdez, and Congressman-elect Alan Peter Cayetano.
The three are vying for the House speakership post.
Conspicuously absent was Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, who has been very vocal about his intention to run for the speakership.
Alvarez, who was reelected for another term in the May 13 polls, was Speaker until he was replaced by his deputy speaker Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a televised ouster on the day President Duterte held his latest State of the Nation Address.
The ouster took place after a verbal exchange between Alvarez and the president’s daughter Sara, whom Alvarez accused of being a member of the opposition for creating the Hugpong ng Pagbabago, a regional party.
But the presidential daughter vehemently denied this, saying the creation of the party had her father’s approval.
Last week, Alvarez reached out to the Davao mayor but she rejected his “offer of reconciliation,” saying it was “deceiving” and “utterly lacked sincerity.”
