Retribution has begun against supporters of speaker-in-waiting Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco with the removal of one of his key allies from the position of deputy speaker.
In Friday’s plenary session, Camiguin Rep. Jesus Xavier Romualdo filed a motion to remove party-list Rep. Michael Romero from the roster of deputy speakers.
Romero was replaced by Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro.
Romualdo’s motion, which was raised in the middle of deliberations on the proposed 2021 national budget, was carried since there was no objection to the motion.
Romero, president of the Partylist Coalition Foundation, Inc., was among the legislators who went with Velasco to a meeting with the President and Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano in Malacañang Tuesday night.
Cayetano’s allies have been lobbying hard that he remain speaker, in defiance of a term-sharing agreement with Velasco that the President brokered.
Party-list Reps. Sharon Garin and Jericho Nograles denounced Romero’s removal as deputy speaker.
“Removing Mikee as deputy speaker, who is our president, no less, is an affront to our coalition and an insult to everything we have worked for as a bloc,” Garin said.
“This is not the statement of PCFI (Partylist Coalition Foundation, Inc.) but mine alone, as one of the many who originally fought hard and long to give party list representation in Congress integrity and strength,” said Garin, who is also a deputy speaker and a Velasco supporter.
Nograles shared a similar view.
“The removal of Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero is an affront against the Partylist Coalition. I shall withhold any further statements regarding this matter in deference to the coalition,” he said.
The PLCI composed of 52 legislators, Nograles said.
Castro, who replaced Romero, called on his fellow lawmakers to quit their posts and “step aside” if they are not willing to cooperate with the majority of members who have expressed their intent to keep Cayetano as speaker.
In a privilege speech, Castro said he joins the Speaker in the call to unite and work together in finishing the budget and passing other urgently needed legislation “for the survival and good of the nation.”
But he said for those who cannot or will not join the majority, he had “one simple thing” to say: “Resign your leadership positions and let those who are willing to help and cooperate take over.”
“If you are willing to be part of the team, I am sure you are welcome. If you are not, then you step aside,” he added.
Castro said there was “no shame in admitting defeat at the hands of a better foe.”
In the Palace, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said it was not good if the House keeps changing its leaders at this crucial time.
It was unclear if this was an endorsement of Cayetano, who said he would abide by the term-sharing agreement after meeting the President and Velasco at the Palace. The next day, however, Cayetano delivered a privilege speech in which he offered to resign, while denouncing Velasco. A majority of the lawmakers present rejected his resignation.
At the meeting in the Palace, Cayetano said hoped that he would still be speaker on his birthday on Oct. 28. Velasco, on the other hand, said he wanted to celebrate his birthday on Nov. 9 as speaker. Both of them agreed on the Oct. 14 date.
In an interview over CNN Philippines, Roque said the agreement between Cayetano and Velasco was brokered by the President.
“The President I think has done his responsibility to remind both candidates for the position to honor their word,” Roque said. But he also said if Velasco didn’t have the numbers in the House, there was nothing the President could do about it.
“The President cannot coerce, intimidate, [or] force the House members into voting one way or the other. He can only remind the two leaders of what was agreed upon but in the end, he recognizes it’s not the President’s call who to elect as speaker,” Roque said.
Roque said it is an important issue to resolve whether or not the President believes that the agreement that he has brokered has been implemented.
Cayetano on Friday committed to passing the P4.5 trillion national budget for 2021 on time, even as his ally, Castro, attacked Velasco again in a speech.
“Who is more honorable – the man who stood with us and led us during one of the most troubled and difficult times in our nation’s history, or someone who was nowhere to be seen when we were all working to help the country recover? Where is the honor in that?” he said, referring to Velasco.