Fredenil Castro poised to replace Andaya as House majority leader

Deputy Speaker Fredenil Castro is poised to replace Camarines Sur Representative Rolando Andaya as majority leader of the House of Representatives.

Without explicitly confirming it, Castro, in an ambush interview with reporters on Monday, said the "official announcement" will be made in their plenary session later in the day.

"You just wait for the official announcement, and perhaps the announcement would be this afternoon in the plenary," Castro said.

Andaya, meanwhile, will reportedly be relegated as chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations --- the position vacated by former Davao City Representative Karlo Nograles when he was appointed as Cabinet Secretary.

Castro said the leadership shakeup was finalized long before Andaya assumed the leadership of the majority bloc of the Lower House.

"It's part of an understanding between two gentlemen," Castro said.

Castro said, however, that Malacañang has nothing to do with the looming change of leadership in the House of Representatives.

Andaya, who was installed to his current position following the election of former President now Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last July, earlier said that he sees his current position as a "burden."

He said that when his position was offered to him, he "begged off a hundred times" and even hid.

He also even recommended Castro to his position, he said, as he was happy being a deputy speaker then.

"Any taker for this position, I will owe him great deal. Tutal, Congress will go on election recess from February to June. There is no need for [a] majority leader when Congress is in hibernation. I will be the first to vote that I be relieved," Andaya said.

Andaya is running for the gubernatorial position in his province of Camarines Sur in the 2019 midterm elections. — RSJ, GMA News