House leadership row simmers with fresh blow to Lord’s camp

A key ally of Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco was stripped of his post at the House of Representatives on Friday and a supporter of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano was named as his replacement as the leadership crisis continued to rage in the chamber.

1-Pacman Rep. Michael Romero, a port tycoon and leader of the party list bloc in the House, was removed as one of the 22 deputy speakers and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro was appointed to replace him. These happened only hours after Castro delivered a privilege speech calling on Velasco and his allies to quit their positions in the 300-member House if they could not cooperate with the Speaker.

‘No shame’

“They should resign from their leadership positions,” Castro said of Velasco’s camp, adding: “There’s no shame in admitting defeat at the hands of a better foe.”

Velasco chairs the House committee on energy; some of his allies are deputy speakers or committee chairs.

Romero was among those who went with Velasco to Malacañang on Tuesday. He did not immediately reply to the Inquirer’s request for comment. But PBA party list Rep. Jericho Nograles said Romero’s removal as deputy speaker was “an affront” to the coalition of party list organizations.

‘Who is more honorable?’

In his speech, Castro said the House’s rejection of Cayetano’s offer of resignation in a 184-1 vote on Wednesday showed that the latter had already honored his term-sharing deal with Velasco.

“Who is more honorable—the man who stood with us and led us through one of the most troubled and difficult times in our nation’s history or someone who’s nowhere to be seen when we were all working and struggling to help the country recover?” Castro said.

The agreement between the two men involves Cayetano serving as Speaker for the first 15 months of the 18th Congress and Velasco taking over in the last 21 months.

On Tuesday, Cayetano and Velasco met with President Duterte and other party leaders in Malacañang, where they supposedly agreed to pass the budget by Oct. 14 and have the turnover on that date.

But Cayetano said that while he told the President he would follow his instructions by offering to resign, he couldn’t promise that Velasco would win the Speaker’s seat in an election.

Wooing allies

Expect more turmoil in the House with Velasco wooing major political blocs to join his fold.

“He is meeting with congressmen and political parties and blocs to introduce himself, how he will be as the next Speaker,” Velasco ally Aambis-Owa Rep. Sharon Garin said in an interview with ANC.

Garin, chair of the House economic affairs panel, said the Velasco group would “pursue the 15-21 agreement and then declare the position vacant, and then we will see how each and every congressman will decide.” She was with Velasco during the meeting with the President on Tuesday.

“[Duterte’s] instructions were clear: You change the speakership following the gentleman’s agreement of 15-21. And the President hasn’t retracted,” Garin said. “We support the Speaker subject to the 15-21, which will be turned over on Oct. 14.”

Budget blues

She added that she remembered “specifically two things he wanted: ‘Pass the budget on time’ and ‘Follow the 15-21.”

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the timely passage of the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget would “depend” on the House members.

“As long as they transmit it to us by the first week of October, we will do our job,” Sotto told the Inquirer in a Viber message. “I refuse to be blamed if they do not submit it on time.”

Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado said budget officials were “hopeful that despite the current situation at the House, the proposed 2021 national budget will still be passed according to their timetable.”

Asked by the Inquirer if he had warned legislators of the potentially negative consequences of a delayed approval of the budget, Avisado said: “They know all that, and they are as much concerned as all of us.”

Can’t force them

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said he believed that “the entire Congress is aware that the enactment of the budget in a timely manner is essential to the recovery of the economy from the ravages of the [COVID-19] contagion.”

In Malacañang, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that even if the President had brokered a term-sharing deal for Cayetano and Velasco, he could not force other lawmakers to elect either man as Speaker.

“The agreement was between Speaker Alan and Congressman Lord. Yes, it was brokered by the President. The President, I think, has done his responsibility to remind both candidates for the position to honor their words. But in the end, even two weeks ago, the President said, ‘If Cong. Lord Allan does not have the numbers, I cannot do anything about it,’” Roque, Duterte’s spokesperson, said in an interview with CNN Philippines on Friday.

‘Pray over’

“In effect, the President cannot coerce, intimidate, force the House members into voting one way or another. He can only remind the two leaders of what was agreed upon. But in the end he recognizes that it’s not the President’s call who to elect for Speaker,” Roque added.

He also said Cayetano and members of his family met the President in Malacañang along with House Deputy Speaker Eddie Villanueva, who was there to “pray over” Duterte.

Roque said the meeting was scheduled two weeks ago and that Cayetano’s presence was also arranged because the Speaker and Villanueva belonged to the same faith. —With reports from Julie M. Aurelio, Ben O. de Vera and Marlon Ramos