LP to leave replacing booted House leaders to majority

MANILA - The Liberal Party (LP) will not be naming the replacements for its members who were booted of key positions in the House of Representatives for opposing the death penalty and will leave it instead to the majority.

A dozen House leaders were stripped of their posts before the chamber went into recess last week. It included five members of the LP, according to Deputy Speaker Miro Quimbo.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who ordered the axing, said political parties that belong to the majority coalition will be given the leeway to choose replacements for the vacated posts.

Quimbo, who voted in favor of the bill and kept his post, said the removal of his party-mates from their positions is something that the party cannot accept.

"In the end, although the parties have been given their respective privileges to replace...we said that we cannot do that because it’s as if we’re penalizing the very people who stood up for their own principles," he said in an interview with ANC's "Headstart."

"In the same way that they should respect the principles of those who voted in favor, we also need to protect those who opposed it. We’re not going to fill up those positions," he added.

Asked again who will replace these lawmakers, Quimbo said, "No one from the Liberal Party. It’s up to the majority who they want to put in that committee."

Quimbo maintained that the each of the committee chairman their party selected for the post "went through the ringer," and had been successful in passing important bills in their few months in office.

"They’ve done already the work. As far as they’re concerned, they’re not really giving up anything, especially for a strong position based on principles," he said.

Although she has yet to be removed, Commission on Appointments member Josephine Sato will also be covered by the reorganization, according to Alvarez.

Quimbo said the Liberal Party will "absolutely oppose" Sato's removal.