Arroyo installed as new Speaker, Alvarez ousted
Former President and Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was elected as the new Speaker of the House, ousting Pantaleon Alvarez.
With a vote of 184 and 12 abstentions, Arroyo was elected during resumption of the session in the House after President Rodrigo Duterte's third State of the Nation Address at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.
Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. presided over the session and called for the formal votation for the speakership.
Andaya was Arroyo's budget secretary when she was president from 2001 to 2010.
Shortly after Arroyo's taking of oath as the new Speaker, she immediately presided over the session.
There were moves for reconciliation of votes cast and the number of attendees, which was about 238 lawmakers, during the resumption of the session.
This prompted Arroyo to order the secretary general of the House to reconcile the figures.
Earlier in the day, Duterte's SONA was supposed to start at 4 pm. But it was delayed for over an hour due to the issue on the House leadership.
Arroyo initially took her oath as Speaker, but this was apparently invalidated as the session was adjourned and the mace, the symbol of the House, was nowhere to be found.
Alvarez that time was with Duterte at the holding room.
Apparently to break the impasse and to prevent further delay in the SONA, Alvarez still stood as the Speaker during the SONA.
After Duterte's 49-minute speech, most congressmen did not leave the House as they resumed the session without Alvarez to formally install Arroyo as the new Speaker.
Arroyo, 71, is the first lady Speaker. After her term as president ended, Arroyo won election to the House of Representatives in 2010. She was charged with electoral fraud and misuse of state lottery funds but was acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2016. Celerina Monte/DMS
