House Speaker Allan Peter Cayetano at the Session hall of the Senate, in Pasay City.
EDWIN BACASMAS
MANILA, Philippines – Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano has urged people who were allegedly caught “red-handed” plotting his ouster from the House of Representatives leadership to man up, stay silent, and focus on work instead.
In an ambush interview on Monday, Cayetano was referring to Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza’s call for a change in leadership, which allegedly coincided with plans to unseat him.
Atienza previously called out the House leadership for its refusal to tackle the ABS-CBN franchise before the Lenten Season break — something that Cayetano said he prefers to discuss in one full sweep rather in chapters.
“Si Congressman Atienza ang nagsabing wala daw, pero nung February 24, siya nagsabi, ‘pag hindi niyo inasikaso ang ABS-CBN, baka kailangan natin ng change of leadership. So, ano ‘yun, coincidence ba ‘yun?” he asked. “Nahuli kayo, man up. Hindi naman ako benggador as long as you help me with the President’s legislative agenda.”
(Congressman Atienza said that there are no coup plots, but last February 24, he said that if the ABS-CBN franchise is not tackled, then maybe we need a change of leadership. So what is that, a mere coincidence? You were caught, man up. I am not vengeful as long as you help me with the President’s legislative agenda.)
“Nahuli na kayo, so tahimik na lang. Trabaho na lang tayo. I mean, do you want to be discussing this issue for the next two weeks? We only have six days sa session, andaming napakaimportanteng pwedeng i-take up,” he added.
(You have been caught already, so just stay silent. Let’s just work. I mean, do you want to be discussing this issue to the next two weeks? We only have six days in our session, there are so many issues that we could take up.)
The House Speaker also opened the possibility of him being replaced — although he claimed that majority of the lawmakers support his legislative reforms.
This statement from Cayetano came amid rumors that an elections would be held to determine the House and the committee leaderships.
Earlier, Atienza said that the elections will be spearheaded by Cayetano himself, to sow chaos and rescind the term-sharing agreement between him and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco.
“Now, if the majority of Congress agree with them and wants a new leader this early, wala rin problema kasi ganyan ang nature ng ating democracy. But sa aking personal analysis, ‘yung mga reforms na ginagawa natin ay suportado ng great majority ng mga kongresista,” Cayetano said.
(Now, if the majority of Congress agree with them and wants a new leader this early, I also see no problem with that since that is the nature of our democracy. But in my personal analysis, the reforms that we have been doing are supported by a great majority of lawmakers.)
Before the 18th Congress convened in July 2019, the speakership race was a fight between Cayetano and Velasco. President Rodrigo Duterte, who considers both Cayetano and Velasco as allies, intervened and arranged 15-month term for Cayetano and 21 months for Velasco.
However, Cayetano recently claimed that the ABS-CBN franchise issue is being used to instigate a coup against him, naming the camp of Velasco as the people behind it.
Velasco and PDP-Laban denied the accusations, saying that they respect the 15-21 agreement.
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