BY ELLSON QUISMORIO
Is the smoldering issue on the House Speakership over or not?
The “war’ seems far from over after the Majority Bloc was left confused in the aftermath of Tuesday night’s crucial meeting in Malacañang that was supposedly to resolve with finality who between Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco will be the chosen one.
In fact it was President Duterte who served as mediator between current Speaker Cayetano and Speaker-in-waiting Velasco, who both brought their most trusted allies to the meeting.
The topic, however, boiled down to whether or not the term-sharing agreement between the two congressmen should be honored.
A few hours into the meeting, tweets saying “Rep. Velasco is the new Speaker” broke out, as if to say Velasco had received Duterte’s blessing to immediately take over the reins from Cayetano.
A House leader who was neither a Velasco nor a Cayetano’s party-mate told the Manila Bulletin-Tempo that even if the Marinduque solon did get the President’s go-signal, he cannot be proclaimed as of last night as “the new Speaker.”
“Getting himself (Velasco) elected is trickier. May botohan pa, you can’t be Speaker by mere turnover. You need to get the majority vote of the (House) members,” said the House leader who declined to be named.
Velasco and Duterte are party-mates over at Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), while Cayetano is a Nacionalista Party (NP) stalwart.
Cayetano and Velasco forged a term-sharing agreement for the Speakership last year and under the deal – which was also brokered by Duterte himself – Cayetano will serve as Speaker for the first 15 months of the 18th Congress, while Velasco will finish the remaining 21 months at the chamber’s helm.
Depending on which camp you ask, the turnover will either occur this October or November.
Over the weekend, some 202 out of 299 House members signed a manifesto expressing their support for the continued Speakership of Cayetano. The Cayetano camp’s plan was supposedly to raise this manifesto in the meeting with Duterte.
Another hint on what transpired during the Palace meeting could be gleaned from PDP-Laban Executive Director Ron Munsayac’s tweet Tuesday night, which read: “Tapos na po ang ?(boxing glove emoji).” He also wrote the hashtag #1521 in reference to the term-split.
However, insider comments from congressmen that have reached MB-Tempo indicate that the results from the meeting weren’t as clear-cut as some tweets or other social media posts have suggested.
“We all left with no clear decision and indication. What was clear (was) budget needs to be passed,” a congressman told a House Viber group.
Another House member bared that Velasco – should he be able to sit soon as Speaker–promised Duterte during the meeting that he would pass the proposed budget “as per the National Expenditure Program,” meaning he would have the budget bill approved as is so as not to delay it.
Yet another House leader appealed to colleagues last night: “Let’s wait for PRRD (Duterte) to make the announcement (about the meeting). Some of our colleagues are spreading fake news.”
The ranking solon said that right now, every rumor on the results of the meeting could be interpreted as “psychological warfare.” (Ellson A. Quismorio)
