The eagerness of the minority bloc to take over the leadership has nothing to do with the postponement of session since Monday, Camacho told Variety yesterday.
Camacho, Ind.-Saipan, said Monday’s session was cancelled because the chairmen of each committee wanted more time to prepare their reports on legislation.
He explained that they wanted to avoid problems caused by the lack of committee reports on bills.
On Tuesday, Rep. Teresita A. Santos, Ind.-Rota, requested that a session be held to at least act on the local bills she introduced.
A session was scheduled for Wednesday, but it was cancelled again for the same reason cited by committee chairmen on Monday.
Camacho said it does not concern him whether the minority bloc has the number to take over the House leadership.
He said taking advantage of the absence of Speaker Froilan C. Tenorio won’t really work because the speaker will not be gone forever.
So even if the minority bloc assumes the leadership, the Covenant Party-led majority will take it back as soon as Tenorio returns to the CNMI.
Camacho said he is still very confident that they have the number to retain the House leadership.
Rep. Ralph S. Demapan, Covenant-Saipan, who had a heated argument last week with some of his colleagues in the House leadership over infrastructure tax appropriation, said the minority bloc is wooing some members of the leadership.
“I’ll be lying to you if I’ll say I’m not concerned about the possible change of leadership,” he said.
But he said he prefers to focus on the bills that his Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations is reviewing. He also wants to spend more time with his constituents in Precinct 2.
Former Speaker Pete R. Guerrero, who is on the staff of Vice Speaker Felicidad T. Ogumoro, Covenant-Saipan, said they were preparing an official statement explaining why they had to cancel the session twice.
He said he does not appreciate how these postponements were reported by the media.
