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MANILA, Philippines – Many are still baffled by the events involving House lawmakers on Monday after Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco was “elected” as the new speaker of the lower house in a session described by allies of the Taguig-Pateros representative, Alan Peter Cayetano. “Illegal”, and the numbers do not help to give some clarity.
In a session at the Celebrity Sports Complex, 186 legislators voted in favor of electing Velasco as the new Speaker, removing the current Speaker Cayetano.
But just an hour after said “election,” Cayetano’s office published a manifesto that showed 200 congressmen endorsing his continued leadership.
Lawmakers who signed the manifesto, titled “The Philippines at a Crossroads,” called on Velasco to “respect the collective desire of his peers to allow the continuation of the exemplary leadership of President Cayetano.”
Cayetano’s office released the manifesto to the media just an hour after Velasco was elected by 186 members of the House as the new speaker at the Celebrity Sports Complex in Quezon City, a session that legislator Taguig-Pateros has held. described as “false”.
In the manifesto, lawmakers said the rejection of Cayetano’s offer to resign already made the term shared between the two congressmen “moot and academic.”
To recall, on September 30 Cayetano offered to resign even if he was expected to remain as president until October 14 as part of his shared term agreement with Velasco. This, however, was rejected by the majority of the members of the House.
“We applaud President Cayetano’s selfless act of offering to resign earlier than required to ensure the prompt and orderly approval of the 2021 budget. And we join the majority in rejecting his offer, as we firmly believe that such an act would have the opposite effect, and in fact it would jeopardize everything that the 18th Congress has accomplished so far, ”said lawmakers.
“Following the President’s call for individual members of the House of Representatives to vote freely and without reservation on who we wish to head this House, we, the undersigned, express our full and unequivocal support for the continued leadership of President Alan Peter Cayetano.” they added.
Cayetano’s manifesto contains 200 signatories from the 299-member Chamber. However, 186 legislators voted to elect Velasco.
In other words, there are legislators who voted to elect Velasco but also signed Cayetano’s manifesto.
It is not yet clear who these lawmakers are, as the Velasco field has yet to release the official vote breakdown as of press time.
There are also certain issues that can be observed when comparing the manifesto and the session at the Celebrity Sports Complex.
In the initial copy of the manifesto sent to the media, the representative of the Dinagat Islands Alan 1 Ecleo has two signatories, but with different signatures.
But Cayetano’s office later clarified that it was a typographical error and that one of the signers was the deputy of the 1st District of Agusan del Norte Lawrence Fortun.
In addition, among the signers of the Cayetano manifesto are Vice President Conrado Estrella III, the 2nd district deputy from Maguindanao, Esmael Mangudadatu, and the 1st district deputy from Zamboanga del Sur, Divina Grace Yu.
However, it was Estrella who presided over the session where Velasco was elected, while both Mangudadatu and Yu nominated the Marinduque legislator as Speaker of the House.
In a telephone interview, Mangudadatu denied consenting to his signature being included on the manifesto.
The legislator explained that while he previously voted to reject Cayetano’s previous resignation offer, he is in favor of Velasco’s presidency as part of the shared term agreement.
“I do not have consent. I have no consent. What I had was during the Spokesman’s speech that he would resign last October 1 and I voted for him at that time. But I said ‘yes’ I will vote until October 14 just because they have an agreement with Lord Allan Velasco that it will go down on October 14, “Mangudadatu told INQUIRER.net in a telephone interview.
INQUIRER.net also reached out to Estrella and Yu for comment, but has yet to receive a response from them as of press time. [ac]
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