MANILA, Philippines — “Nadenggoy tayong dalawa.” (We got fooled)
Sometime after President Duterte met with incumbent Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, the Chief Executive supposedly expressed anger over the simmering leadership row at the House of Representatives and allegedly even blunted out that Cayetano pulled a fast one on them.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, Velasco shared that during his meeting with Duterte and Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to settle the speakership deal, the latter agreed to resign on October 14 as part of their term-sharing agreement.
The next day, Cayetano offered to resign but this was immediately rejected by some members of the House, initiated by his allies.
Subsequently, Velasco and Duterte met anew, wherein the solon said the President got visibly angry.
“I just wanna say because kitang kita ko ‘yung galit ng Pangulo. Sabi sa akin ni Pangulo, ‘Lord, hindi lang ikaw ang napahiya dito, tayong dalawa’,” Velasco said.
“Actually, the President used the word ‘Lord, nadenggoy tayong dalawa,” he added.
Under the term-sharing agreement, Cayetano would serve as House Speaker in the first 15 months of the 18th Congress while Velasco would succeed to serve for the remaining 21 months.