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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 27) – At a time when congressmen are forging alliances or threatening others outside their office over budget failures, President Alan Peter Cayetano went to the city of Davao to chat and dine with his presidential son and Vice President Paolo Duterte.
Over the weekend, House appropriations committee chair Eric Yap posted a series of photos of himself on Instagram along with Duterte, Cayetano, his wife Lani, and House Secretary General Brian Yamsuan.
In Yap’s first set of photos titled “Quiet Night,” lawmakers were seen posing and smiling after what appeared to be a meeting over Saturday night’s dinner.
On Sunday morning, Yap posted another photo from last night’s encounter, this time, with everyone standing next to each other in the pool.
Yap did not elaborate on what was discussed during the meeting.
This meeting occurred a week after Duterte’s text message to Yap circulated and sparked speculation about a reorganization of the Brewery House to carry out a coup against Cayetano. In that message, Duterte himself warned that he will declare the speaker and vice president positions vacant following concerns from some colleagues about “uneven” budget allocations in their districts.
However, last Monday there was no hit and the session ended in a matter of minutes. The days followed with a “supermajority” of regional allies and blocs suddenly expressing their support for Cayetano and endorsing his tenure as speaker, despite their shared term agreement with Marinduque’s representative Lord Allan Velasco.
Cayetano himself had accused Velasco of being the alleged mastermind behind the coup attempt, but the latter insisted that he kept quiet out of respect for Cayetano, whose term expires in October.
Anakalusugan representative Mike Defensor said Sunday that the general sentiment of “party leaders” for now is for Cayetano to keep his post.
The House of Representatives is set to hold plenary debates on the $ 4.5 trillion budget for 2021, after the appropriations committee approved it on Friday.
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