MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III has accepted the apology of House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, who unleashed remarks that seemingly pass the blame on the upper chamber if the passage of the 2021 spending bill gets delayed and the country operates with a reenacted budget.
“Ceasefire na,” Sotto said in a message to reporters, shortly after Cayetano went live on Facebook and apologized for saying that the Senate, not the House of Representatives, is at fault if the country operates on a reenacted budget next year.
“[Apology] accepted and I said we will do our best to work on the time we have as the Senate always does,” he added.
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According to the Senate president, Cayetano called him up and promised to submit to the Senate the advance copies of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), which the lower chamber will eventually approve on the third and final reading on November 16.
“I said that will help us, especially our finance chairman,” Sotto said, referring to Senator Sonny Angara.
Fears of a delayed budget approval were raised after Cayetano and his allies moved to abruptly suspend the House’s session on Tuesday, October 6, until November 16 without the final approval of the GAB for 2021.
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