'Huge asset': House Minority bloc joins Gonzales' growing list of well-wishers
Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales Jr. (left), and Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan (PPAB)
They technically belong to the other side of the fence in the House of Representatives, but that didn't stop the minority bloc from congratulating Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales Jr. on becoming the new senior deputy speaker. "We in the minority bloc join colleagues in congratulating Deputy Speaker Aurelio 'Dong' Gonzales Jr. on his election as the new senior deputy speaker of the House of Representatives," Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan said in a statement Thursday afternoon, May 18. According to Libanan, Gonzales "will be a huge asset to the House leadership in his new capacity". "He will be able to work closely with the minority bloc in overseeing the passage of legislative reforms that are needed to sustain the country’s economic recovery and improve the quality of life of every Filipino family," he said In the same statement, Libanan reiterated the minority solons' "full support to the leadership of Speaker Martin Romualdez, who has ably steered the House in delivering unprecedented accomplishments less than a year in our terms". Traditionally, members of the minority act as the "fiscalizers" of the majority bloc in the House, or of the administration in general. Gonzales replaced Pampanga 2nd district Representative and former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the lofty post on Wednesday night.