Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 1) – Despite supposed attempts to boot him out of his post, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano maintained he will continue fighting with whoever chooses to stand by him in the House of Representatives.
“I believe most members of Congress see and appreciate the reforms I stand for. If they do, then I will continue to serve as their Speaker. If they don’t, then they can remove me, I will continue to serve as the Representative of Taguig and Pateros,” Cayetano said in his Facebook post Saturday night, days after accusing Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, with whom he has a term-sharing deal as speaker, of plotting to oust him as leader.
PBA party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles said that “taxpayers deserve better” than these fake coup issue in a statement Sunday.
“I will continue the lonely fight with whoever will join me,” he said.
Cayetano added in his post that he “will not be transactional” and “will not sacrifice [his] principles and this administration’s priorities. The post showed an old photo of him doing the signature fist bump alongside President Rodrigo Duterte, his running mate in the 2016 elections.
“It saddens me that this fake coup challenges the integrity of Congress as an institution and that the leaders have not heeded my sober call to be Statesmen. All this name-calling only means that personal interests abound, instead of national problems,” Nograles said.
The Speaker added that the national budget should neither be corrupted, nor should it be treated as “spoils to be divided among cronies.”
Last Thursday, Cayetano claimed that Velasco is supposedly promising budget allocations and positions to some House allies once he secures his term.
Earlier reports said this issue comes amid the House’s inaction on the budget and franchise renewal of media giant ABS-CBN.
Velasco already refuted these claims and said that he has “no intention of reneging” on their agreement, wherein Cayetano will serve for the first 15 months, and he will serve for the remaining 21 months of the Speaker’s three-year term.
Without naming names, Cayetano warned his colleagues to leave their posts if they do not like the present leadership. Cayetano is supposed to serve as Speaker until October only.
It was Duterte who brokered the 15-21 term-sharing deal between the two when the 18th Congress convened in July last year in a bid to appease the pro-administration coalition that at the time was divided on their choice of a House leader.
Deputy Speaker of the House Luis Raymund “Lray” Villafuerte also commented on the issue, particularly addressing Velasco.
“Rather than account for his hubris in staging a failed coup against Speaker Alan Peter Cateyano, Velasco–through his factotum, Rep. Doy Leachon–has gone ballistic and resorted instead to ad hominem attacks against me that are phony, absurd and irrelevant to the crux of the issue,
which is their camp’s brazen attempt to subvert the 15-21 term-sharing arrangement that was brokered last year by no less than President Duterte, who is the titular head of our ruling coalition,” Villafuerte said.
He said that Velasco is “obviously way out of his league in lusting for the Speakership.”
