AMID the budget row in the lower house, Deputy Speaker Paolo Duterte said members of the House of Representatives have the “power to change” in order to address the allocation issues and ensure that the programs and projects for their people are delivered and delivered expeditiously.
The President’s son made a statement following complaints on “unfair” distribution of funds among legislative districts, and weeks before the start of the 21-month term of Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco.
Under the term-sharing arrangement, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano was to lead the House for 15 months up to October this year while Velasco would serve the remaining 21 months of the Speaker’s three-year term of office.
The younger Duterte has also confirmed his coup threat against Cayetano, saying “the text message that I sent to another lawmaker— and is now making the rounds— was an expression of my personal dismay upon hearing the concerns of my fellow lawmakers.”
In the said text message, Rep. Duterte said he will ask the Mindanao Bloc to declare the seat of Speaker and Deputy Speakers vacant this Monday, September 21. He also said that Mindanao will not die because of zero allocation.
Monday movements
A source from the House has also confirmed that there would be a move on Monday (today) to change the current leadership.
But according to Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, President Duterte is impressed with the House performance under Cayetano’s leadership.
Romualdez, following a meeting last week with the Senate President and Speaker at the Malacañang Golf Clubhouse, said they personally reported to President Duterte the priority measures that the House of Representatives had completed the past year.
“The President was visibly pleased and had a brief huddle with that Speaker before leaving. The President [was] nodding with approval and clearly wanting the Speaker to carry on with the priority legislative agenda of the Palace,” he added.
“Also, the members of the House of Representatives are happy that under the leadership of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano so much legislation has been passed despite the limitations and challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
The Majority Leader added that the success of the House may also be attributed to the excellent teamwork that the House leadership and its members had demonstrated in the performance of their duties.
‘Fate’
Deputy Speaker Duterte, however, said lawmakers are calling him to express their disappointment and consternation over the fate of their respective allocations and budgets in the hands of the current House leadership.
“Most of these concerns shrouded doubts over the process and mistrust of the lawmakers ruling the House, those who are acting as if they are bigger than their colleagues,” he added.
“The members of Congress have the power to correct everything that they perceive as wrong happening within the Lower House, or change leadership as they demand fair treatment and reforms,” the younger Duterte added.
If the members of Congress will push for a change in House leadership, he said, “obviously I would be among the casualties because I am a deputy speaker. I am ready to accept the consequences.”
However, Duterte said he told his co-lawmakers that “I did not want to get involved.”
He continued: “As much as I am part of Congress with a duty to be involved in the goings on inside, I cannot discount the fact that I am a Duterte. Although I am an ex officio member being a Deputy Speaker, I have respectfully and clearly told them that their concern is something that I would rather stay away from — out of delicadeza because my father is the President.”
But as Congress “continues to be hounded by the issue of budget—something that finds its way up to the current House leadership, how it treats its members, how it approves allocations and budgets with fairness or lack of it,” Duterte sought to reiterate his position. “I do not want to get involved; however, I wish to help my fellow lawmakers find answers to their questions or remedies to the budget that they proposed for their people.”
At last week’s Department of Public Works and Highways budget hearing, Negros Oriental Rep. Arnulfo Teves questioned the agency’s basis for the budget allocation per district of congressmen.
Teves also asked the agency to submit the list of districts with highest and lowest allocation next year, saying his district will only receive almost P2 billion while Taguig and Camarines Sur are getting P8 billion and P11.8 billion, respectively.
For his part, Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte accused Teves Jr. of being a “blab” or rumormonger in denouncing supposedly disproportionate allocations of public works funds in certain congressional districts. He said this was part of a “sinister ploy” by a pro-Velasco bloc to “wreck” the House leadership’s target to wrap up deliberations on the 2021 budget plan by end-September.
Villafuerte, who represents CamSur’s second district, said Teves himself has betrayed the insidious agenda of the Velasco camp in candidly admitting as “hearsay” the alleged information reaching him that CamSur, with five legislative districts; and Taguig City, which has two districts (one of which is represented by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano), have respective allocations of P11.8 billion and P8 billion in the proposed 2021 budget of the DPWH.