On the 17th of May 2023, I received news that Deputy Speaker Dong Gonzales was elected Senior Deputy Speaker in my place. My first reaction was that it is always the prerogative of the House to make changes in its leadership structure. Thus, I congratulate Dong, and I hope his new position will help him fulfill his mandate to represent our fellow Kapampangans.
On further reflection, I now feel it necessary to explain my thoughts on the matter. As I have learned during my three decades as a politician, such events are part and parcel of Philippine politics. Still, I do not want it to precipitate or intensify any tendencies towards early politicking. We are just barely a year into the administration of President Marcos, Jr., and it would be unfortunate if early politicking resulted in any dilution of the tremendous mandate that the UniTeam, led by our President, earned in the 2022 elections. After all, the President ran on the platform of unity.
When President Marcos won, I wanted to aspire for the Speakership of the House. But it soon became apparent that he was most comfortable with then Congressman Martin Romualdez as Speaker. I quickly realized the wisdom embedded in that sentiment. In the Philippines, the House leadership has traditionally been closely associated with the sitting President, and this relationship of deep trust between Speaker and President has been beneficial in smoothly enacting the legislative agenda of the President. I think this is acceptable, because in the Philippines, the check and balance needed in any democracy has traditionally been well-provided by the Senate.
When I learned that there were reports that I was suspected of plotting a “coup” against Speaker Romualdez, I decided I must speak out to clarify my political position. Indeed, some of my actions may have been misconstrued, such as my recent trip with a delegation of Congressmen to Korea for some official meetings.
To be clear, my political objectives are three:
First, to represent the 2nd district of Pampanga.
Second, to support the legislative agenda of Speaker Romualdez and President Marcos.
Third, to use whatever experience I have as a former President to help out when I am called upon to do so.
Outside of my role as Congresswoman, my public interest going forward is to help reduce tensions betwen the United States and China, given that I was strongly allied to both countries when I was President.
So it should be noted that being Speaker once more is no longer part of my political objectives. This has been my position ever since Speaker Romualdez was elected in the 19th Congress, and I continue to urge my Lakas-CMD partymates to support our party President in that role.
Am I firm in this position? Some may recall that in December 2002, I publicly declared that I would not run for President in 2004. But I had responsibilities of a sitting President then, so later events with serious national security and political implications convinced me to change my mind. I refer to such matters as our war on terrorism following 9-11 and the continuing attempts at destabilization at that time.
This time, I am a mere Congresswoman, so issues of national importance no longer depend on my role in Congress. Thus, I have no compelling reasons to change my mind about foregoing my ambitions for the Speakership.
By this disavowal, I hope that we can preempt any needless politicking so that the House and our President can focus on the job at hand with minimum distraction.
Thus, I emphasize by paraphrasing an American public figure, the Civil War General William Tacumseh Sherman who, when being enticed to run for the American presidency in 1884, declined by saying something like, “If nominated, I will not run, and if elected, I will not serve.”
