By BEN ROSARIO
LACK of quorum stopped on Monday night a move to oust as congressman an opposition solon who is behind a Supreme Court petition questioning the recognition of Quezon Rep.Danilo Suarez as minority leader.
ABS Partylist Rep. Eugene De Vera was saved from being ousted when LPGMA Partylist Rep. Arnel Ty, his colleague in the Alvarez minority bloc faction, quickly demanded a quorum call of the plenary at around 11 pm on Monday.
Ty said Suarez was clearly behind the “grand but deplorable” move to kick out De Vera as House member merely because he petitioned the High Court to correct the House leadership’s decision to recognize the Quezon lawmaker as mnority leader.
Ty said he expects more heated plenary debates tomorrow as a quorum is expected to be constituted and a motion to remove De Vera is restated on the floor.
The aborted move to oust De Vera as House member came after Majority Leader and Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. moved for a break in the on-going budget deliberations to introduce “administrative matters.
Ty said he sensed that the intermission from budget debates signaled the introduction of a motion to remove De Vera as congressman.
“I saw Baby Pizarro (former ABS Partylist Rep. Catalina Pizarro) in the gallery with a few other House guests. This is unusual,’ said Ty in an interview.
Instantaneously as Andaya aired the motion to remove De Vera as House member, Ty rose to object, saying that there was not enough warm bodies for the House to conduct business.
With Ty threatening to end the session due to failure to constitute a quorum, the motion was recalled.
“I had to stay on guard until 6 am yesterday because I know they will bring it up again,” said Ty.
Andaya claimed that De Vera ceased to be a member of the Lower House because he had been expelled by ABS Partylist as its nominee.
Pizarro, head of the ABS Partylist, reportedly signed withdrawal of nomination for De Vera, saying that he was to be replaced by the partylist organization’s second nominee.
De Vera had been informed of the ABS Partylist decision but pointed out that under the law a sitting congressman can only be replaced or removed through a decision issued by the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal.
Ty claimed there have been attempts by the Suarez group to invite De Vera back to their minority bloc but this was thumbed down by the latter who chose to be loyal to the faction of former Speaker and Davao Del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez and former Majority Leader and ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Farinas.
