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MANILA, Philippines – Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco’s camp said Sunday that President Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor “Inday” Sara Duterte, has started calling on congressmen to support Velasco in his attempt to assume the presidency of Taguig in the House. Representative Alan Peter Cayetano as agreed 15 months ago.
“Mayor Sara Duterte has endorsed Representative Lord Velasco as the next Speaker of the House of Representatives at any time this week, but without interrupting the budget deliberation,” said Oriental Mindoro Representative Salvador Leachon, one of the main sponsors of Velasco and member of the PDP- Fiesta de Labán.
Multiple sources told the Inquirer that Velasco supporters were ready to try to take control of the House leadership with the backing of Mayor Duterte. A photo of Velasco and the mayor having dinner on Friday was sent to the Inquirer.
But Mayor Duterte said she had “no comment” when asked about her alleged move to support Velasco.
The conspirators were reportedly going to deliver a coup similar to that organized by Pampanga representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo against President Pantaleón Álvarez in July 2018, according to a screenshot of conversations between legislators obtained by the Inquirer.
One of the sources sent the Inquirer a screenshot from Viber showing 1-Pacman representative Michael Romero, leader of the party list coalition, who was stripped of his vice president position for supporting Velasco, speaking about the acquisition plan.
“Exact repetition of the 2018 scenario, when Mayor Sara called everyone with the full support of the PRRD (Mr. Duterte) to overthrow Bebot Alvarez and install GMA (Arroyo) as Spokesperson, it only took 1 day and everyone changed allegiance “, attributes the message. Romero read.
“The position of the Duterte family: PRRD: honoring the term sharing (gentlemen’s agreement). It is the Lord’s time. Mayor Sara: gathering everyone for LAV (Velasco) tomorrow (Monday 10 am) ”, he added.
Leachon said Mayor Duterte “believes that the parts of the shared term agreement should be gentle enough to comply.”
But Malacañang reiterated that President Duterte did not want to get involved in House politics and only wanted the House to pass the proposed national budget for 2021, according to presidential spokesman Harry Roque.
But those loyal to the president warned Velasco’s side not to try to make their move on Monday when the House would not yet be in session or during budget deliberations.
“That will be an illegal session,” said Vice President Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr., who described Monday’s alleged coup plot as a “prelude to interrupting Tuesday’s session.”
—With a report from Julie M. Aurelio
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