Velasco to give Abante leadership post after move to House majority bloc

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco on Monday said he will still give Manila Representative Bienvenido Abante Jr. a House post after quitting as minority leader and joining the majority bloc.

"Definitely I will give former Minority Leader Benny Abante a post," Velasco said in an interview with ANC on Monday, although he said he is "still under evaluation."

Abante on Friday announced that he is joining the House majority bloc following the change in the leadership at the House.

"I have full trust in the new leadership. There is no better symbol of this trust than the expression of intent to join the majority so I could be more proactive in providing urgently needed legislation and congressional oversight on the instance that the Majority leader and the Speaker favorably act on this prayer," Abante said, referring to Velasco.

"Ako po ay sasama sa majority," he added.

Abante said he trusts his former colleagues in the minority bloc to judiciously choose his successor, and thanked them for their support over the last 15 months.

Mikey Arroyo

Meanwhile, Velasco also said in the same interview that he will give the chairmanship of the Committee on Energy to Pampanga Representative Mikey Arroyo.

"I will be giving the post to Cong Mikey Arroyo mainly because he’s the senior vice chair right now," he said.

Velasco served as chairman of the Committee on Energy before being elected as Speaker on Monday last week.

A total of 186 lawmakers voted for Velasco as Speaker in a "session" at an events place in Quezon. The election was ratified by the same number of House members in the plenary hall of Batasang Pambansa the next day. — RSJ, GMA News