NUP expels Duke Frasco for not supporting Romualdez, says Villafuerte
Camarines Sur 2nd District Rep. LRay Villafuerte
MANILA, Philippines — National Unity Party (NUP) president and Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte confirmed on Saturday that the party is expelling Deputy Speaker and Cebu Rep. Vincent Franco “Duke” Frasco after he reportedly refused to sign the manifesto supporting the continued leadership of House Speaker Martin Romualdez for the 20th Congress.
NUP is one of the political parties belonging to the super majority coalition that is backing Romualdez to remain at the helm of the lower chamber in the next Congress.
Villafuerte said in a statement that Frasco is “contravening the party’s official position to support Romualdez.”
“The party leadership has decided to expel Duke (Frasco) from the NUP because his unilateral decision not to support Rep. Martin’s continued stay as Speaker in the next Congress is a blatant breach of the NUP’s official position of unequivocal support for the Speaker to keep his premier post in the next Congress,” Villafuerte said.
READ: House exec: Speaker Romualdez has supermajority in 20th Congress
“Given that this has been the unanimous stance of our party, Duke’s one-man decision to withdraw support from the Speaker runs counter to the NUP’s official manifestation of support for Congressman Martin—and means his status as a member of our party has become untenable,” he explained.
“He should have first discussed his contrary position with our party leadership, rather than go out in public and breach our unanimous party decision,” he further said.
According to the NUP president, it has been the party’s “long-standing policy” that all of its members would decide as one.
Thus, he said that Frasco’s move to go “to the media to publicly oppose our party position, especially without prior consultation with any of our party officers, is punishable with expulsion from the NUP.”
The NUP recently declared its full backing to Romualdez as speaker of the House of Representatives for the 20th Congress./mr
