Duterte downplays alleged plot to unseat Alvarez

MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte has downplayed an alleged plot to unseat Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez by another ally, former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Rumors have been circulating that Arroyo will try to wrest control of the House from Alvarez.

Duterte, however, said Arroyo herself told him she has no plans of gunning for the speakership.

“Mukhang si Speaker matamlay. Sabi ni ma’am, ‘sabihin mo sa kaibigan mo na wala akong ambisyon maging speaker. He can rest,” Duterte said during a dinner gathering at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City on Thursday evening.

Arroyo, Alvarez, and other high-profile allies of the President and members of the business elite were present during the dinner party, hosted by Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco and his wife Wen.

Talk of a possible Arroyo takeover at the House reignited after Alvarez got entangled in a word war with Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.

The feud between the younger Duterte and Alvarez began when the speaker allegedly criticized the Davao City mayor for forming a regional political party separate from the ruling PDP-Laban. Alvarez denied calling Sara a member of the opposition.

During the dinner, Alvarez and Sara came face to face as she walked with the President to greet the other guests seated at the presidential table.

The Davao City mayor told ABS-CBN in a statement, “Yes, shake hands. No talking. My mother told me to be kind to Speaker Alvarez. PRD [President Rodrigo Duterte] told me not to harbor anger. I just want to focus on Davao City.”

Arroyo sat between father and daughter at the presidential table. Alvarez was on the same table but seated a few chairs away, between Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and former Speaker Sonny Belmonte. Duterte’s partner Cielito Avancena and Medialdea’s wife, Betty were also at the dinner party. -- with a report from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News