President felt hoodwinked by Alan, says Lord

Rep. Lord Allan Velasco said on Friday that President Duterte was angered and felt hoodwinked by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano when the Taguig congressman forestalled a term-sharing deal with the Marinduque lawmaker by offering to resign and then rallying his supporters to reject it.

Velasco said the President expressed his sentiments to him when they spoke on Monday about Cayetano’s “resignation” last week. Then on Oct. 6, the Speaker’s premature suspension of sessions prevented the election of a new House leader and also aborted further budget deliberations.

In an interview with ANC, Velasco said he saw the President visibly angry and quoted Mr. Duterte telling him: “Hindi lamang ikaw ang napahiya dito, tayong dalawa (It wasn’t just you who was embarassed here, it was the two of us.).”

“Actually … the President used the word, ‘Lord, nadenggoy tayong dalawa (we were both duped),” he said.

In the original “gentleman’s agreement” brokered by the President himself, Cayetano was to serve as Speaker from July 2019 to October this year and Velasco would take over for the remaining 21 months until a new Congress takes over after the 2022 polls.

Lord Allan Velasco

Claim of fresh mandate

When there were indications that the deal would not be upheld, the two men and a few of their key allies met with the President, and the two sides agreed that the budget would be passed on Oct. 14 followed by Velasco’s takeover in an election.

But on Sept. 30, Cayetano waylaid the deal by offering to resign in order, he said, to give Velasco the chance to succeed him. When House members voted 184-1 to reject his resignation, the Speaker’s camp claimed he was given a fresh mandate and the term-sharing deal was deemed scrapped.

But Velasco denounced Cayetano’s actions, saying they were intended to advance the Speaker’s political ambitions in 2022.

“Look at how he made a mess of the entire budget process. Why? Because out of fear, I think. Speaker Cayetano is doing everything just to be able to achieve his personal ambition and interest in being President in 2022,” Velasco said.

“He is prioritizing his political survival before the survival of our country,” he said.

A presidential aspirant would have a big advantage over his rivals if he were serving as Speaker during an election year.

Without specifying what he would do, the President on Thursday threatened to step in to save the P4.5-trillion proposed budget for 2021 if the House failed to resolve the leadership crisis after Cayetano terminated plenary debates on the budget and suspended the session a full week ahead of schedule.

Alan Peter Cayetano

Lost time

The House leadership set the resumption of session on Nov. 16, prompting a warning from senators that they would lose a month’s time for budget deliberation which would “certainly lead” to a reenacted budget for 2021.

Shortly after Mr. Duterte made his threat, Cayetano issued a statement on Facebook, apologizing to the President and the nation “for adding anxiety to an already uncertain situation” and assuring Malacañang that the budget would be passed on time.

“As a matter of detail, we will submit the printed budget to the Senate on Nov. 5, allowing them to proceed with their hearings, and preparing the way for the formal transmittal on Nov. 16, immediately after Congress votes and approves on third reading the 2021 General Appropriations Bill,” he said.

“We likewise assure the President that all the actions that we have taken are legal, constitutional, and in line with time-honored precedence in the House,” Cayetano said. “Neither I nor the other members of Congress will sacrifice the budget in this critical time, for political expediency.”