Cayetano to Velasco: Relax, nobody said term-sharing pact won’t happen

House Speaker Alan Cayetano answers queries from the media on issues hounding the chamber on Monday, November 11, 2019. Pathricia Roxas/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — House Speaker Alan Cayetano on Monday asked Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco to stay calm as the Taguig-Pateros representative would honor the term-sharing deal between them.

“Wala namang usapan na ‘di masusunod eh. I mean, hindi mo maaalis sa ating mga kongresista na masaya sa mga reforms, na napasa ‘yung budget within a month, na institutional (amendments) ‘yung ating unang tinignan (sa budget), ‘yung record attendance…” Cayetano said in an interview at his office.

(There’s no deal that the agreement would be broken. I mean, you can’t stop congressmen from lauding the reforms we’ve initiated like the House’s passage of the budget within a month, the prioritization of institutional amendments in it, our record attendance…)

“So happy birthday sa kanya at ipanatag n’ya rin ‘yung loob n’ya, and use this time din to prepare dahil very daunting ‘yung task ng House of Representatives lalo ng Speaker,” he added.

(So, happy birthday to him and also keep himself calm, and use this to prepare because the task of the House of Representatives especially for the Speaker is very daunting.)

In an interview earlier, Velasco expressed confidence that the “15-21” term-sharing deal they forged at the beginning of the 18th Congress stands.

READ: ‘I will see you next year as the next Speaker of the House’ – Velasco

Cayetano expects the same, even though he had said in a television interview earlier in the day that he would rather stay as the chamber’s leader for three years, and not step down after 15 months. He just refused to be a “hypocrite,” he said.

“Tinanong lang naman ako, na ano’ng tingin ko… Kahit naman baliktarin mo ‘yung tanong kay Cong. Velasco mo itanong, ‘would you have rather na hindi ka 21 months, would you have rather na three years ka’, ang sagot din nya ‘yes’,”

(I was just asked about my opinion… I think if Cong. Velasco was asked if he would rather complete the three years, he would answer the same.)

READ: Cayetano open to serve full term of speakership

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