'No impeach talk at Palace meet'

House vows full support for Marcos

- By DELON PORCALLA and JOSE RODEL CLAPANO

But for the 200 or so lawmakers, members of the so-called super majority, the occasion was an opportunity for them to present a manifesto of support for President Marcos, who in turn thanked them for their support.

"It was all about our manifesto of support for PBBM," a House official and party stalwart told The STAR, referring to the President by his initials.

"Speaker Martin (Romualdez) spoke. And then PBBM spoke to thank the House for the expression of support. No mention of impeachment. No mention of her (Sara) name," the official said. Why the manifesto of support had to be given was unclear. House Deputy Majority Leader and La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V said the event had been planned long ago and that it was aimed at fostering camaraderie among lawmakers and the President.

"There is no truth to some speculations or thinking of some people. It was just a simple get-together dinner (with the) highlight the presentation of the resolution supporting the President," Ortega said.

He said they arrived at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Palace and were joined by the President at around 6:30 p.m.

The dinner started with the opening remarks of Romualdez, after which the congressmen presented to the President their manifesto of support.

"I asked him, in Ilocano, how he's doing. He said he is OK. Of course we knew that he has a lot of work and it is almost late at night, he is tired, having started working in the morning. He was in a very light mood, which is normal when there is affirmation of support for you. It was shown during his thank you speech,” Ortega said at a briefing.

“The President said he is no longer watching Netflix (but) he was able to watch what we are doing. It was the only thing he told us. No politics, nothing specific,” Ortega said.

He said that after the speeches of the Speaker and the President, they had dinner, which lasted for 30 to 40 minutes.