WATCH: ‘The Lord be with us,’ Zubiri puns Velasco’s election as Speaker

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri on Tuesday couldn’t help making a pun of the recent election of Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Zubiri was about to leave the budget hearing on energy when he remembered to say his congratulatory message to Velasco who finally was formally voted by his colleagues as House leader, after a spat for the post with erstwhile Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.

During the Senate budget deliberations of the Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), and National Electrification Administration, the Senate leader suddenly brought up the news that the House members have a new Speaker.

WATCH: As Senate Majority Floor Leader Migz Zubiri was about to leave the budget hearing of energy agencies, he suddenly jokes "The Lord be with us" after getting word that Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco is now the new House Speaker. | @khallareINQ pic.twitter.com/JFyUCQM2jL

— Inquirer (@inquirerdotnet) October 13, 2020

“As the saying now goes because I was watching the news right now. There’s a new Speaker, ” Zubiri told Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who is chairman of the Senate energy committee.

“So the Lord be with us,” he joked.

Gatchalian, meanwhile, said that the new speaker was a “friend of his,” as well as of DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi and ERC chairwoman Agnes Devanadera, who also had previous dealings with Velasco in the House committee on energy.

Aside from being House Speaker, Velasco is also the House Committee on Energy chairman.

“That’s why double bonus kay Secretary Cusi. So approved na yung budget, kaibigan niyo pa yung Speaker. So congratulations,” he said.

(That’s why it’s a double bonus for Secretary Cusi. The budget is already approved. The speaker is also your friend. So congratulations.)

Velasco was officially elected as House speaker after 186 lawmakers voted to ratify his speakership election, over Cayetano, who will remain as representative of Taguig and Pateros.

EDV