• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Bacolod Representative Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, a staunch ally of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., dismissed on Wednesday the allegations of a brewing coup in the House of Representatives, stressing it only surfaced in social media.
“Not heard of it,” stressed Benitez, who is a convenor of the Visayan Bloc.
He suspects that those behind the rumors are some loyalists of former Speaker Martin Romualdez, who are opposing the change in Congress.
They are trying to promote continuity, rather than change, said Benitez, who did not vote for Romualdez when the latter ran for the Speakership of the 20th Congress.
Romualdez was later replaced by Isabela Rep. Faustino “Bojie” Dy III as the Speaker of House, with almost all Negros Island Region solons also voting for Dy.
He also questioned the motive of Senator Imee Marcos in shaming her own brother, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr, in public, especially in a huge rally.
While it appears that it shows concern for her brother, the way and manner it was done is also detrimental to her brother, Benitez said.
The Bacolod solon said it could have been done privately, within their own family.
Benitez also dismissed the claims against the President as an old issue, noting that even former President Rodrigo Duterte publicly revealed those allegations during his term as the Chief Executive.
In a statement, House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos also called the allegations of his aunt, Senator Imee Marcos, that he and his parents were into drugs, as false and dangerously irresponsible.
“What she did was saddening,” the congressman said. “For her to betray her own family brings a lot of pain to me as a consequence of my respect [for] her for giving me my start in public life.”*
