Deputy Speaker Antipolo City 1st district Rep. Ronaldo "Ronnie" Puno says he and the rest of the 41-strong National Unity Party (NUP) are mulling a switch to the minority bloc over supposed dissatisfaction over the leadership of House Speaker Faustino "Bojie" Dy III.

Puno, in a press conference Monday morning, March 16, said the party-mates will talk things over during the upcoming six-week long Lenten break.

"Itong recess, magmi-meeting meeting, pag-uusapan namin kasi, alam mo, sana, he is our leader, he should lead. Di ba? But hindi yata nakakausap yung mga miyembro ng Kongreso eh para alamin yung mga problema na inaabot namin lagi," Puno said.

(This recess, we’ll be holding meetings, because you know, hopefully, he is our leader, he should lead. Right? But it seems he hasn’t been talking to the members of Congress to find out the problems we constantly face.)

"Parang humihiwalay sila sa sitwasyon ng mga congressmen ngayon. Sana hindi ganyan...Speaker namin siya di ba? (It feels like they’re distancing themselves from the situation of congressmen right now. Hopefully not… He is our Speaker, isn’t he?)" added the NUP chairman.

Puno said NUP had consistently supported the House leadeeship in the past few months, whether it be by pronouncement or deed.

"Naririnig niyo naman di ba? In the past few months wala kayong narinig sa amin kung di puro suporta sa kanila. Di na nila kailangan kami kausapin dalawang beses. Pag may hinilimg silang tulong sa aming partido, tumutulong kami.

(You hear it yourselves, don’t you? In the past few months you’ve heard nothing from us except full support for them. They don’t even need to talk to us twice. Whenever they ask our party for help, we give it.)

"Pero dito sa recess na mangyayari, magmi-meeting meeting kami ulot. Titingnan namin kung dapat pa ba kami maiwan sa majority or lumipat na lang kami sa minority (During this upcoming recess, we’ll be holding meetings again. We’ll look into whether we should remain in the majority or just move over to the minority)," Puno said.

The NUP is the second biggest political party in the 300-plus strong House of Representatives, next only to the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD).

Puno said he had nothing personal against Dy, and noted that he has been friends with him and his family for a long time. However, solons have to answer to their constituents, he said.

Asked if there was any plan or move to elect a new House Speaker, the Antipolo lawmaker immediately shot this down, and said that NUP was merely thinking about switching sides.

He noted that the NUP membership wasn't big enough to elect a new House Speaker. 

Dy, Isabela's 6th district representative, took over as House head honcho on Sept. 17, 2025 when the previous Speaker, Leyte 1st district Rep. Martin Romualdez stepped down from his post.

Puno vented on his frustrations with the current leadership. 

“Ang problema namin, hinaharap namin yung mga tao namin, mga kapitan namin araw-araw, tinatanong kami, 'Anong nangyari? Bakit walang naitutulong ngayon sa mga tao natin?' Wala kaming masagot," he said.

(Our problem is that we face our people, our barangay captains every day, and they ask us, ‘What happened? Why is there no help reaching our people now?’ We have no answer.)

"Magtatanong kami dito, wala kaming naririnig na sagot, OK? Puro pangako, hindi naman natutupad. So sa amin, tama na yan. Kasi kung ang trato sa amin kalaban, eh di kalaban na," Puno said, alluding to the opposite of the majority which was the minority bloc.

(We ask here, but we don’t hear any response, OK? Just promises that are never fulfilled. So for us, that’s enough. Because if we are treated as enemies, then enemies we shall be.)

4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino "Nonoy" Libanan leads the 30-member House minority bloc in the current 20th Congress.

If the NUP ends up bolting the majority, then the minority would swell into an unheard of 70 members--a significant bump from it historical membership.