[ad_1]
A key ally of Marinduque’s representative, Lord Allan Velasco, was stripped of his position in the House of Representatives on Friday and a supporter of President Alan Peter Cayetano was named as his replacement as the leadership crisis continued in the House.
1-Pacman Rep. Michael Romero, a port magnate and leader of the party list bloc in the House, was removed as one of 22 vice presidents and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro was appointed to replace him. This came just hours after Castro delivered a privileged speech calling on Velasco and his allies to resign their positions in the 300-member House if they were unable to cooperate with the president.
‘Without shame’
“They should resign their leadership positions,” Castro said of Velasco’s side, adding: “There is no shame in admitting defeat at the hands of a better enemy.”
Velasco chairs the House energy committee; some of his allies are vice presidents or committee chairs.
Romero was among those who accompanied Velasco to Malacañang on Tuesday. He did not immediately respond to the Inquirer’s request for comment. But the representative of the PBA party list, Jericho Nograles, said Romero’s removal as vice president was “an affront” to the coalition of organizations on the party list.
Who is more honorable?
In his speech, Castro said that the House of Representatives’ rejection of Cayetano’s offer to resign in a 184-1 vote on Wednesday showed that the latter had already fulfilled his shared term agreement with Velasco.
“Who is more honorable, the man who was with us and guided us through one of the most turbulent and difficult times in our nation’s history or someone who is nowhere to be seen when we were all working and fighting to help the country to recover? ” Castro said.
The agreement between the two implies Cayetano as Spokesperson during the first 15 months of the XVIII Congress and Velasco in the last 21 months.
On Tuesday, Cayetano and Velasco met with President Duterte and other party leaders in Malacañang, where they reportedly agreed to approve the budget before October 14 and have the rotation on that date.
But Cayetano said that while he told the president that he would follow his instructions in offering to resign, he could not promise that Velasco would win the president’s job in an election.
Courting allies
Expect more unrest in the House with Velasco courting the main political blocs to join his fold.
“He is meeting with congressmen and political parties and blocs to present himself, what he will be like as the next Spokesperson,” Velasco Aambis-Owa representative Sharon Garin said in an interview with ANC.
Garin, chairman of the House economic affairs panel, said that the Velasco group “will seek the 15-21 agreement and then declare the position vacant, and then we will see how each and every one of the congressmen will decide.” He was with Velasco during the meeting with the president on Tuesday.
“[Duterte’s] The instructions were clear: the speaker is changed following the gentlemen’s agreement from 15 to 21. And the president has not retracted, “said Garin. “We support the Speaker theme from 15-21, which will be delivered on October 14.”
Budget blues
He added that he remembered “specifically two things he wanted: ‘Approve the budget on time’ and ‘Follow 15-21.”
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said timely approval of the proposed 4.5 trillion peso national budget “would depend” on members of the Chamber.
“As long as it is relayed to us before the first week of October, we will do our job,” Sotto told the Inquirer in a Viber message. “I refuse to be blamed if they don’t deliver it on time.”
Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado said budget officials were “hopeful that, despite the current situation in the House, the proposed national budget for 2021 will be approved according to its schedule.”
When asked by the Inquirer if he had warned lawmakers about the potentially negative consequences of a delayed budget approval, Avisado said, “They know all that and are just as concerned as all of us.”
I can’t force them
The Secretary of the Treasury, Carlos Domínguez III, said that he believes that “the entire Congress is aware that the timely approval of the budget is essential for the recovery of the economy from the ravages of the [COVID-19] contagion.”
In Malacañang, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said that even if the president had negotiated a shared-term agreement for Cayetano and Velasco, he could not force other legislators to elect either of them as president.
“The agreement was between President Alan and Congressman Lord. Yes, it was negotiated by the president. I believe the President has fulfilled his responsibility to remind both candidates for office to honor his words. But in the end, even two weeks ago, the president said: ‘Yes Cong. Lord Allan doesn’t have the numbers, I can’t do anything about it, ‘”Roque, a Duterte spokesman, said in an interview with CNN Philippines on Friday.
‘Pray’
In effect, the president cannot coerce, intimidate, force members of the House to vote in one way or another. You can only remind the two leaders of what was agreed. But in the end he recognizes that it is not the president’s decision who to choose as spokesman, “added Roque.
He also said that Cayetano and members of his family met with the president in Malacañang along with the vice president of the House, Eddie Villanueva, who was there to “pray for” Duterte.
Roque said that the meeting was scheduled for two weeks and that Cayetano’s presence was also arranged because the Spokesperson and Villanueva belonged to the same faith. —With reports from Julie M. Aurelio, Ben O. de Vera, and Marlon Ramos
Read next
EDITOR’S SELECTION
MOST READ
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer and more than 70 other titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download from 4am and share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
[ad_2]
