• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The name of Bacolod City Lone District congressman-elect Alfredo Abelardo Benitez is being floated as among the possible candidates for the House speakership.
Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson himself welcomed reports on Monday (May 19) that Benitez is being considered as a possible candidate for the Speakership position.
“That would be great. Could you imagine if somebody from Negros Occidental will actually sit down as Speaker,” the governor said.
“I don’t see any Negrense will be against that. We’re hoping it can happen. But we’re just here to sit down and relax, and see what happens at the start of the 20th Congress,” Lacson said.
During his term as congressman of the Negros Occidental 3rd district, Benitez led the powerful Visayan Bloc.
Including 3rd district Board Member Manuel Frederick Ko, who will sit as Abang Lingkod partylist representative, succeeding Joseph Stephen Paduano, there are eight legislative district representatives in Negros Occidental.
These include Julio Ledesma IV of 1st district; Alfredo Marañon III, 2nd district; Javier Miguel Benitez, 3rd district; Jeffrey Ferrer, 4th district; Emilio Bernardino Yulo, 5th district; and Mercedes Alvarez, 6th district.
Deputy Speaker David Suarez said that House Speaker Martin Romualdez has a “supermajority” in the 20th Congress, with no less than 240 members having signed a manifesto of support for the lawmaker from Leyte. | GB
