Cayetano claims having ‘huge majority’ over rival Velasco

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano

MANILA, Philippines — Amid rumors of a power grab in the House of Representatives, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday claimed he had superior numbers over his rival, Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, in a hypothetical matchup, saying as many as 200 of the 300 lawmakers in the chamber had expressed support for him.

“Based on those who texted me and expressed [their support] or called me, I think I have a huge, huge majority behind me,” Cayetano said in a radio interview.

But two House sources told the Inquirer that Velasco flew to Davao City, President Duterte’s hometown, on Saturday to try to secure the backing of the President and his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, in a prelude to another heated speakership battle.

Row over pork

The House has been gripped by tension since hostilities between Cayetano and Velasco erupted last week over the alleged partisan and inequitable distribution of public works allocations to districts and regions in the P4.5-trillion proposed budget for 2021.

A threat by Deputy Speaker Paolo Duterte to declare the House leaders’ seats vacant did not materialize on Monday, but the situation remains volatile amid wrangling among lawmakers.

“Per our count, we have 200 out of the 300 [House members]. As for the others, I can’t say because they didn’t text me. Now, if they texted me and then also texted Velasco, I wouldn’t know. I cannot monitor their cell phone,” Cayetano said.

He issued a warning to Velasco’s camp. “Just show me that the majority does not want me and the transition will be smooth. But you cannot blackmail me or hijack the situation so that I will agree to corruption, pork, favoritism, or increase your funds,” he said.

“Whatever your district needs, let us talk about it. But I will not allow anyone to push me around,” he added.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday night, Velasco broke his silence on the speakership squabble, saying he had intended to keep quiet for the duration of the “gentleman’s agreement” with Cayetano “in deference and respect to the sitting Speaker.”

“My silence does not mean I am disinterested nor I have turned my back on the covenant.

“‘Mum on issues’ means I just don’t want to call attention to myself,” he said.

Velasco said he would still honor the deal with the Speaker and expected Cayetano to do the same.

“Being party to the term-sharing agreement, one does not and should not seek to compete with the current Speaker as a gentleman’s agreement is in force. We will have our turn at the right time,” he said.

“When both parties finally honor the agreement, I will show my colleagues the kind of leadership I espouse. Thereafter, at the end of my term, my peers can then be the judge of my loyal service to God, to the President, and ultimately, to the Filipino people,” he said.

Velasco cross-posted the message across multiple Facebook accounts, including his official Facebook page, with Marinduque indicated as his current location, despite information reaching the Inquirer that he was in Davao City.

One of the Inquirer sources said Velasco was trying to convince the President’s daughter to intervene on his behalf, but the other source said it wasn’t clear if Velasco had been given an audience.

Term-sharing deal

Cayetano and Velasco, leader of the President’s party in the House, have a term-sharing deal brokered by Mr. Duterte himself in 2019. Under the deal, Cayetano, Mr. Duterte’s losing vice-presidential running mate in 2016, would head the House for 15 months starting July 2019 up to the end of October 2020, then turn over the leadership to Velasco, who would lead the chamber during the last 21 months of the Duterte administration, or up to the end of June 2022.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Tuesday that Mr. Duterte wanted the rivals to honor their term-sharing agreement but could not do anything if Velasco did not have the support of the majority of the House members.

Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte Jr. had said the “supermajority” in the chamber wanted Cayetano to stay on as Speaker despite the term-sharing deal with Velasco.

Last week, the President met with Cayetano and Velasco in Malacañang, after which he reportedly said he pitied Velasco.

On Tuesday, Roque said Mr. Duterte’s position was that it was up to the House members to choose their leader, but that he expected them to honor the term-sharing agreement between Cayetano and Velasco.

In his radio interview on Tuesday, Cayetano said the speakership issue should not detract from the urgency of passing the budget on time.

“I’d really want to focus on the budget,” he said. “Any talk about leadership, about change, the budget will be affected. I don’t want the budget to get mixed in with politics.”

But the budget—through which lawmakers have traditionally funneled money to their own pockets through discretionary and lump-sum items known as “pork”—has often been at the center of political conflict in the House.

In 2018, the approval of the 2019 budget was delayed for several months as a result of last-minute insertions by the new House leadership under then Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who had staged a coup against Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez.

The scrambling for spoils escalated to a feud between the House, the Senate, and the Cabinet that led to a reenacted budget for the first four months of 2019.

The President ended up vetoing P95.3 billion worth of alleged pork allocations inserted by House lawmakers.

In January, shortly after signing the 2020 budget, the President asked his budget managers to review P84 billion worth of congressional insertions before releasing them to districts, angering many House members.

—With a report from Julie M. Aurelio