House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano yesterday accused Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco of plotting to oust him as leader, months before the full implementation of the “15-21” term sharing pact for the speakership that President Duterte personally endorsed.
Cayetano told reporters that 20 congressmen have been offered better committee assignments and apparent higher budget in exchange of their support for the plan to unseat him as speaker.
However, hours before Cayetano aired the grave allegations, Velasco issued a statement vehemently denying that he was behind supposed coup plot to oust Cayetano as speaker.
“To my kababayans, these reports are far from the truth. The reports were meant to create deep division within the House of Representatives and its members, destroy camaraderie, distract lawmakers from fulfilling their mandate, and more importantly, derail the key legislative agenda of the Duterte Administration,” Velasco said in a press statement.
Cayetano has been hinting of the alleged bid to unseat him a few days ago which was even linked to the controversy surrounding the pending ABS-CBN legislative franchise renewal.
In an ambush interivew at the Taguig City University yesterday, Cayetano told reporters that Velasco was behind the plot to jump the gun on the speakership term-sharing agreement that many described as the “Magellan formula.”
“Normal naman kapag nahuhuli, nagde-deny,” Cayetano said, reacting to Velasco’s earlier denial of involvement in the supposed coup.
The House leader claimed that 20 congressmen have spilled the beans on the move to oust him, saying that the solons have been promised chairmanship and apparent larger budget. (Ben Rosario)
He accused Velasco of personally making the offer of better committee assignments to House members.
The alleged bid to oust Cayetano followed recent political developments in the House that allegedly convinced the Velasco camp that the speaker will not honor the Magellan formula that was brokered by Duterte.
