Erice says he lost House post after ‘legit criticism’ of Marcos
Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice on Wednesday said his “legitimate criticism” of President Marcos was the reason for his sudden replacement as House senior deputy minority leader, and that the President’s son, Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, had been seeking his removal from the post “for quite some time.”
Erice was replaced by Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima.
This came a day after Erice vented his frustration over what he considered as unfulfilled pledges made by the President, such as jailing bigtime culprits in the flood control corruption scandal and creating a more powerful independent probe body for anomalous public works projects.
On Tuesday, Erice also decried the passage at the committee level of what the opposition described as a watered-down version of the antidynasty bill, something he also blamed on the President.
‘Bola-bola’
“The majority leader [had] been asking for my removal for quite some time,” Erice told the Inquirer in a text message, referring to Representative Marcos.
“He cannot stand my legitimate criticism of the Marcos administration particularly on the possible involvement of his father in the infrastructure corruption,” he said.
Representative Marcos or his staff had yet to reply to the Inquirer’s request for comment as of press time.
During Tuesday’s hearing of the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, Erice said nothing had come out of the President’s pronouncements to have major perpetrators in the flood control mess behind bars.
As to the antidynasty bill, a measure listed by Mr. Marcos to be among his priorities, Erice noted that the version that hurdled the House committee deliberations would still allow up to 12 relatives to hold elective positions in one province simultaneously.
He has since withdrawn as a coauthor of the bill.
“Bola noon, bola ngayon, bola-bola Marcos (It was all bluff then, it is all bluff now. It’s all Marcos bluffing),” he said during the hearing.
Hours after Erice’s remarks, during the plenary session, House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan moved to have him out as senior deputy minority leader and nominated De Lima to the post.
Prior plan
On Wednesday, De Lima said she was already informed of the move on Erice even before Tuesday’s hearing.
“I already received a heads-up in the morning that it would be the step (being taken by Libanan) yesterday during the session, and Congressman Erice uttered those remarks about the President in the course of the hearing of the [House committee on] electoral reform and suffrage,” De Lima said in a chance interview.
“Since it was a prior plan that the replacement move will be in the afternoon, we cannot say that that is the proximate cause of the action in replacing him as senior deputy minority leader,” she also said.
De Lima said the reason for Erice’s replacement “was not really clear to me.”
Erice nevertheless welcomed “fellow liberal” De Lima as his “better replacement,” saying she fits the job as “a fighter against abuse and corruption.”
