Published January 3, 2021, 7:24 PM
“Bagong taon na, tigilan na ang pagiging bitter (It’s the New Year, stop being bitter).”
This was Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza’s unsolicited piece of advice Sunday to former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, who a few days ago accused the current House leadership of blocking the supposed plan of Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Mike Defensor and Bulacan Rep. Jose Antonio Sy-Alvarado to probe corruption allegations against some of their fellow congressmen.
Buhay Partylist Rep. Lito Atienza
(FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“That’s fake news,” said Atienza, who last month was among those elevated to the deputy speakers’ post by Cayetano’s successor, Speaker Lord Allan Velasco of Marinduque.
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Buhay Partylist Rep. Lito Atienza (FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN )
Atienza said allies of the speaker were surprised Defensor complained that he was not informed of the plan to remove him as chairman of the powerful House Committee on Public Accounts.
He disclosed that many of them were anticipating Defensor’s resignation immediately upon Velasco’s assumption as speaker last October because this is the “most honorable thing to do under the circumstances.”
“Some people have lost their political sense of ‘delicadeza.’ They made their choice, they must realize that they cannot have the best of both worlds,” said Atienza.
Anakalusugan Party-List Rep. Mike Defensor
(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Defensor’s press statement that he released on the second day of his relief as chairman of the powerful House Committee on Public Accounts constituted the first alarm bell of another leadership controversy in the chamber.
A few hours after being sacked as chairman of the public accounts panel, Defensor issued a media statement that assailed Velasco as being “the worst.”
The partylist solon ended his statement with a veiled warning: “See you next year.”
Defensor criticized Velasco for not informing him about being replaced as chairman of the public accounts committee despite the fact that the speaker had the opportunity to do so.
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