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Manila: Lawmakers swiftly moved to elect a new leader on Tuesday following the midnight ouster of House Speaker Jose de Venecia.
Congressmen voted unanimously to elect Davao City Representative Prospero Nograles Jr as the new Speaker, minutes after a motion to declare the position of Speaker vacant was approved by a 174-35 vote with 16 abstentions.
De Venecia, saying he wanted to "rapidly unite this divided House", nominated Nograles to be his successor and acclaimed him as an outstanding leader of Congress and a good friend.
First from south
Nograles is the first lawmaker from Mindanao to be elected to the post. His uncontested election came at 55 minutes past midnight after a marathon session that opened at 4pm on Monday. De Venecia expressed the hope that Nograles will continue with the wide-ranging reforms that the five-time Speaker has put in place, foremost of which is the completion of the biometric electronic voting system, which is set to be inaugurated in the next two weeks.
"This will make the House of Representatives one of the first parliaments in Southeast Asia to have computerised voting," said De Venecia.
The sombre mood at the upper chamber contrasted with the combative spirit several hours earlier. In a privilege speech, De Venecia had said that members of the House and the presidential palace chose to abandon him despite what he described as his "contributions" to the stability of the country.
"Despite suggestions to the contrary, I had chosen not to abandon President Gloria Arroyo despite the storm of controversies besetting her administration," De Venecia said in an emotionally charged speech.
De Venecia's ouster came at the tail-end of political wranglings between Arroyo's supporters in the House, led by the President's sons Mikey and Dato Arroyo. .
Observers had seen the scuffle for the Congress leadership as a proxy fight between the Arroyos, through Nograles, and De Venecia who is supported by Ramos. In his first statement from the Speaker's podium, Nograles said, "I accept the challenge to continue reforms in this chamber and to improve the image the House.
"But I will never make promises that I cannot keep," he added.
"It's been a long and tiring day for all of us. Now the issue is finally settled," Nograles said. "It's time to get back to work."
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