Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco are scheduled to meet with President Duterte on Tuesday (today) at the Malacañang to address the speakership issue in the House of Representatives.
The Palace meeting between Cayetano and Velasco was confirmed by Deputy Speaker Dan Fernandez.
PDP-Laban Executive Director Ron Munsayac likewise confirmed the meeting with the President which is also expected to be attended by heads of the different political parties in the lower chamber.
This developed as political parties from the House majority and minority have signed two separate manifestos supporting Cayetano’s leadership until 2022.
As of this writing, at least 202 lawmakers from the majority and 16 from the minority have signed their manifestation of support to the current leadership.
Amid the political noise that has threatened to derail the smooth and immediate passage of the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA) in the lower chamber, lawmakers are now “called upon to act and put aside partisan bickering in favor of the larger people’s agenda that calls for a fair, balanced and equitable [decision] that will help the country recovery swiftly from the effects of Covid-19.”
Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte said he expects no changes for now as lawmakers are now focusing on the plenary deliberations of the proposed 2021 P4.5-trillion national budget.
“No revamp, or changes being talked about now because our attention and focus is to pass the 2021 budget on or before October 15, 2020,” he said.
Under the term-sharing agreement for the speakership, Cayetano leads the Lower House for the first 15 months of the 18th Congress, while Velasco will assume leadership for the last 21 months.
But Villafuerte said Velasco “lost the speakership” because of his alleged failure to prove to his peers his capability to lead as Speaker of the House.
“A Speaker should have a strong voice, a Speaker should have a principled stand on major issues which clearly Congressman Velasco does not have. He is pressuring Malacañang to order congressmen to make him Speaker because congressmen don’t believe he is competent,” he stated.
Despite the announcement of the term-sharing deal, Villafuerte said Velasco should not have assumed the support of the majority, which, he said, he should earn. “He [Velasco] lost by default because of his own fault and actions.”
“He did not perform as congressman, he did not perform as chairman of the energy committee which convinced the supermajority his inability to lead the chamber. In most of the major issues surrounding the House, where was Congressman Velasco? Where was he when we passed the Anti-Terror law? Where was he during the deliberations on the ABS-CBN franchise? Where was he during the Bayanihan 1 and Bayanihan 2 when Congress worked double time and overtime to pass the said measures? Where was he on all major issues surrounding the House?” said Villafuerte.