Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano refuses to honor his term-sharing agreement because he wants to use the House of Representatives when he runs for president in 2022, said Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco.
Velasco, who was supposed to take over as speaker under the terms of an agreement brokered by President Rodrigo Duterte, said both he and the President were “duped by a scheming Cayetano.”
In an effort to prevent the turnover of the speakership on Oct. 14, Cayetano’s allies had the session of the House of Representatives suspended until Nov. 16, even though the chamber has yet to pass the national government budget bill on third and final reading before the end of October.
Cayetano reportedly told Duterte that he wanted to stay on as speaker until at least the end of the month because “I still want to be the Speaker when I turn 50 years old on Oct. 28.”
Interviewed on television on Friday morning, Velasco said legislators have to show to the public that they honor their word… that they have one word and if they give their word they will abide by it.
“Honoring our word is a must, otherwise we will not deserve the title ‘honorable’,” Velasco said.
“I regret that at this point, I can no longer determine what Speaker Cayetano is fighting for. I think he is only thinking and fighting for his personal interest,” he said.
Just before the House sessions were suspended, the 2021 budget was approved on second reading upon Cayetano’s motion, although reports said the proposed budgets of more than 30 government agencies have not been discussed.
Velasco believes Cayetano’s camp sought the suspension of the plenary session because he does not have the numbers to keep himself in the post.
Velasco said the President was furious as he felt he and Velasco had been fooled by Cayetano, who has maneuvered to keep himself speaker, despite the term-sharing agreement.
On Thursday night, the President called on members of the House not to allow their leadership “impasse” affect the passage of the P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021.
On Oct. 6, Cayetano and his handful of supporters abruptly terminated plenary deliberations, approved the budget bill on second reading and suspended the session until Nov. 16, in an apparent move to prevent any attempts to unseat him on Oct. 14, the date set for Velasco’s takeover per the term-sharing deal.
Cayetano’s move drew serious concerns from senators, economic managers and the business community, which said the delay in the passage of the spending plan could lead to a reenacted budget next year, a move that would hurt the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Velasco said the President was visibly enraged when they met privately on Oct. 5, or five days after Cayetano offered to resign as speaker and his resignation was supposedly rejected by the majority.
“I could see how angry the President was,” Velasco said in Filipino during an interview on ANC’s Headstart. “He told me, ‘Lord, you aren’t the only one to lose face here, it’s both of us.’”
“‘Lord, nadenggoy tayong dalawa,’ (Lord, we were both fooled,)” Velasco quoted the President as saying.
Cayetano has yet to comment on Velasco’s statement.
Velasco said he understood Duterte’s frustration because during their Sept. 29 meeting in Malacañang together with Cayetano and Senator Christopher Go, the President asked Cayetano to resign on Oct. 14 and the latter agreed.
“He told Speaker Cayetano, ‘Alan, it’s okay. Oct. 14 you will resign. You will announce that on Oct. 14 you are resigning because you abide by the gentleman’s agreement.’ After that, they shook hands,” Velasco said.
Velasco earlier called on Cayetano to set aside political differences by resuming the plenary session in order to allow the House to observe the full process of passing the budget.
He said it was a “great disservice” to the nation to hold the budget hostage to “cede to one’s personal ambition” or “achieve one’s political whim.”
“We should not fail our people whose lives and health needs depend on the programs of this government. We should not fail President Duterte in helping him achieve the agenda he has set to improve the lives of our countrymen,” he added.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, said he saw no impropriety if the President steps in to resolve the impasse between conflicting groups in the House, both of which are his allies.
He noted that a few calls from the President to the leaders of those coalitions can simplify matters.
Lacson said the President’s option is to do whatever is necessary, even taking a direct hand in resolving the speakership issue between Cayetano and Velasco with the timely passage of the 2021 national budget as his only consideration.
“After all, anything that has to do with national interest should involve the President,” Lacson said.
Lacson also questioned Cayetano’s proposal that the Senate work on a printed copy of the House version of the national budget which has not yet been approved on third and final reading.
“We can only file a committee report once the general appropriations bill is transmitted to us after it has been approved on third and final reading,” he said.
“Why do they have to wait for Nov. 16 to approve the budget on third and final reading? I can’t understand any of this,” Lacson added.
He said their priority in the Senate remains the same–to pass on time a national budget that will allow the country to deal with the effects of the pandemic.
He said this includes scrutinizing the budget bill to make sure huge sums are not lost to incompetence or greed.
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara expressed hope that the President’s message will encourage lawmakers in the House to pass the budget on third reading at the earliest opportunity.
Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on fnance, said this would enable the Senate to begin its plenary debates as well, in compliance with the Constitution.
Senator Christopher Go reminded everyone that the country cannot afford to have a reenacted budget next year.
“If we want to help the Filipino people, let us support the Executive by providing the resources they need to implement the necessary plans and programs to overcome this ongoing crisis, help the economy recover, and uplift the lives of millions of Filipinos,” he said.