Cayetano welcomes Duterte’s call for special session to tackle 2021 budget

MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano welcomed Friday President Rodrigo Duterte’s call for a special session to avoid delays in passing the proposed P4.5 trillion national budget for 2021.

In a Facebook post, Cayetano said he trusts Duterte’s wisdom in addressing issues related to the proposed 2021 budget, which has been approved on second reading in the lower chamber.

“As we commit our nation and the People’s 2021 Budget to THE ALMIGHTY, we welcome President Duterte’s call for a Special Session of Congress on October 13 to 16,” Cayetano said.

“We trust his wisdom on how to address issues concerning the budget, and thank him for his continued confidence by allowing Congress to pass the General Appropriations Bill free from the specter of politicking and intrigues that we had originally sought to avoid,” he added.

Cayetano said the lower chamber would continue to “work and prepare for the swift passage of this measure, and to ensure that it will be responsive and relevant to the government’s overall recovery efforts for 2021.”

Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, meanwhile, said the House leadership would immediately act next week on Duterte’s request.

“We appeal to our colleagues to give their full cooperation in ensuring the swift enactment of legal and constitutional General Appropriations Bill (GAB) as requested by President Duterte to support his vision for the nation in the years to come,” Romualdez said in a statement.

“The members of the supermajority and our colleagues from the constructive minority bloc are one with the Duterte administration in the implementation of its comprehensive plan to rebuild the Philippine economy, defeat coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) and ensure that government services are not derailed,” he added.

Romualdez likewise assured that the budget deliberations would be transparent “to ensure its legality and constitutionality in our main intention to serve the people.”

On Friday, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque announced that Duterte called on Congress to a special session “to avoid any further delays on its prompt passage.”

The General Appropriations Bill (GAB), which contains the proposed 2021 budget, was supposed to be approved on final reading in the lower chamber on October 16.

However, on October 6, Cayetano moved for the termination of the period of deliberation on the measure even if several other government agencies’ proposed funding has yet to be scrutinized.

The Speaker said he did this in a bid to belie the claims of his political rival, Marinduque Rep. Lord Alan Velasco who he has a term-sharing agreement with, that he is holding the budget hostage amid the speakership row between the two.

With the period of debates and amendments closed, the lower chamber approved the proposed 2021 budget on second reading and consequently suspended the session until November 16, meaning the proposed funding for next year would not be approved on final reading in the House until that date.

These developments seemed to have irked Duterte who warned on Thursday night members of the House of Representatives to immediately resolve the budget impasse or else he will take matters into his own hands.

“Gusto ko lang sabihin in one straight statement: Either you resolve the issue sa impasse ninyo diyan and pass the budget legally and constitutionally, kapag hindi ninyo ginawa, ako ang gagawa para sa inyo,” Duterte said.

“Hindi ako nananakot. Wala akong ambisyong manakot. Wala din akong ambisyong magtagal sa pwestong pu**** ****g ito na puro problema. Wala akong hangarin,” he added.

What this means to the speakership row

Should the special session push through from October 13 to 16, this means that there will be a session on October 14—the expected date of the speakership showdown between Cayetano and Velasco.

To recall, when Duterte met with both Cayetano and Velasco to settle the speakership row, news broke out that the Marinduque lawmaker would take over the post starting October 14.

The following day, Cayetano offered to resign but this was immediately rejected by his colleagues—a move initiated by the Speaker’s allies in the House.

Cayetano’s allies in the lower chamber have claimed that the rejection of the Speaker’s resignation offer manifests the support for his continued leadership.

But Velasco’s camp has insisted, on multiple occasions, that Cayetano follow the agreement.

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 under a term-sharing agreement. [ac]