Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Mike Defensor was recently ousted from his position as chairman of the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee. He was removed from his position after his ally Taguig Rep.
Alan Peter Cayetano was replaced as House Speaker by Lord Allan Velasco in October. After being kicked out of his position, Defensor released a statement towards Velasco.
Defensor is known to be one of the 70 lawmakers who voted to deny the franchise bid of ABS-CBN.
Since the ascension of Velasco as House Speaker, the majority of Cayetano’s deputy speakers were stripped of their committee chairmanships and were replaced by those who are supportive of granting the ABS-CBN franchise.
Defensor posted on his official Facebook account that Velasco is the ‘worst.’ He said that the Speaker didn’t talk to him directly before ousting him from his position.
“Speaker Lord Velasco is the worst. He didn’t even have the courtesy to talk with me even as we had a short meeting last week as regards the investigation to be conducted by the Committee on Public Accounts. He even requested me that we all suspend investigations until January which I respectfully agreed to,” he said.
“I would not have resisted if he had asked me to give up the position as I have said in the past. Civility and leadership dictates that even as we have differences in the past leadership fight, that we treat each other in a respectable manner. I am comforted by the thought that clear lines have been drawn and in the spirit of the season, I wish Speaker a Merry Christmas. See you next year,” he added.
In a separate post, Defensor accused Velasco of sowing public distrust of the legislature.
“It is important that we as the House of Representatives protect the Filipino people’s trust in us as their elected officials. However, Speaker [Lord Allan] Velasco’s leadership is causing distrust of the Congress among Filipinos,” said the lawmaker.
Defensor recalled once again how Velasco failed to give him a proper notice regarding him losing his position as chairman of the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee.
“He also mishandled changing the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee by not even giving me proper notice, even when he had the opportunity to tell me while we were at a meeting together discussing investigations and bills lined up before the Committee. I would have appreciated this as I would readily give up the post. I intimated this to Cong. Sison and many colleagues who all share my surprise at the Speaker’s actions,” he said.
He added saying that the recently appointed speaker’s actions were a show of “arrogance and unprofessionalism.”
“These actions show arrogance and unprofessionalism from Speaker Velasco and cause citizens to doubt his ability to lead the House at a time when we need unity,” said Defensor.
As of this writing, Defensor is the 8th congressman who was ousted from their position as Chairman of Committee who was a part of the 70 lawmakers who denied ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal bid. Defensor was replaced by Probinsiyano Ako Rep. Jose Bonito Singson.
