BACOLOD CITY—Majority of congressmen from the Visayas, including those from Negros Island, supported the speakership bid of Rep. Lord Allan Velasco (Marinduque, PDP-Laban), according to one of the congressmen.
“I nominated Velasco on behalf of the Visayan bloc,” said Rep. Francisco Benitez of Negros Occidental’s third district.
Fifteen months ago, he said majority of congressmen agreed to support Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano in accordance with a term-sharing agreement with Velasco that had been brokered by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“The last fifteen months has seen a generally harmonious Congress abiding by this agreement and supportive of Cayetano, but the time has come to honor the term sharing,” he said.
“The budget should not be held hostage by acts of power play brinkmanship that endangers generations of Filipinos in this time of economic recession and health crisis,” Benitez added.