Speakership Row Not Over: Cayetano Offers To Resign, Keeps Post After Plenary Vote

The issue of the House leadership is back in limbo after the House plenary decided in session to reject the offer of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to step down from his post on Wednesday, Sept. 30.

Congressmen voted 184-1 with nine abstentions to approve the motion of allies of Cayetano to reject his resignation offer.

Cayetano offered to resign a day after meeting with President Duterte and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, during which an agreement was reportedly reached regarding their earlier term-sharing deal for the speakership post. Initial reports said Cayetano agreed to relinquish his post to Velasco effective Oct. 14.

But in an hour-long speech before lawmakers, Cayetano again attacked Velasco for pushing for a change in the House leadership during budget deliberations and while the nation is facing the coronavirus pandemic.

“I will not be a party to letting the President down, so I am offering my resignation here and now, to you my dear colleagues. My fate and the fate of the 2021 budget and leadership of the House is in your hands,” Cayetano told his House colleagues.

“What Velasco did last night makes it impossible for me to finish the budget,” Cayetano said. Addressing Velasco, he added: “If our colleagues want you to take over today, then do it. I’m offering my resignation here and now.”

He made the offer to let House members choose between him and Marinduque congressman.

“Congressman Velasco told the President that he is ready. Then I think the best time to prove it is now. You want Sept. 30? Go ahead. If colleagues want you today, then go ahead,” Cayetano said.

His allies led by Anakalusugan party-list Rep. Mike Defensor and Bulacan Rep. Jonathan Sy-Alvarado stood up on the floor and put forward a motion rejecting the offer.

Deputy Speaker Raneo Abu then sought a voice vote, but the plenary instead proceeded to settle the matter via nominal voting.

A total of 184 House members voted to keep Cayetano as speaker while only one dissented.

Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza questioned the numbers, saying by his count, only 111 congressmen participated in the session, which didn’t even constitute a quorum. Atienza, who voted to keep Cayetano, also explained that he merely wanted the leadership change to take place on Oct. 14, after the passage of the 2021 national budget, and as agreed upon in the presence of Duterte.

The voting was held after reports that allies of Velasco were asked not to join the session via online platforms so as not to listen to Cayetano’s speech. They reportedly did not participate in the voting.

Before the voting, Cayetano expressed confidence that he enjoyed the support of the majority of congressmen.

“Under the Constitution, you need a majority of all members to be elected speaker. So I can step aside, but I cannot guarantee he (Velasco) will be elected. In fact, I will make a fearless forecast, he will not win. Or if I step aside and he wins, after one week he will be ousted by coup d’etat,” the Taguig-Pateros congressman stressed.

Earlier this week, a total of 202 congressmen signed a manifesto of support for Cayetano in what appeared to be a show of force of the so-called “supermajority” in Congress.

In his speech, Cayetano claimed that Velasco repeatedly rejected during their meeting the request of Duterte to move the turnover of the House leadership to December so as to ensure the smooth passage of the 2021 budget that is crucial for the government’s pandemic response programs.

“More than three or four times, the President asked Congressman Velasco to have the turnover in December for the sake of the budget and the nation. I saw the pain in the President’s heart. I saw the burden,” Cayetano said.

He said he offered to have Velasco work with him for the next three months so he could help the Marinduque congressman win the support of their House colleagues.

“I tried to give Congressman Velasco an easier route to speakership. But he always said his reputation is just being destroyed and that, basically, he cannot work with us,” Cayetano narrated.

He recalled giving Velasco an advice and asked him: “Are you ready? Because you have to give up a lot of things.”

It remains unclear if the agreed House leadership change will push through on Oct. 14. Cayetano’s ally, Deputy Speaker LRay Villafuerte, said no date was mentioned during the meeting with Duterte.

Cayetano said he was tasked by the President to announce the decision in the plenary, but said the camp of Velasco preempted it and immediately broke the development to the media “with a mix of fake news.”

Majority support

Despite the agreement made before the President, Cayetano’s allies said Velasco would still need to muster the numbers and get the support of a majority of congressmen.

Villafuerte, one of the House leaders who has been vocally opposing the change in speakership, belied reports that Velasco is already set to assume the House leadership by Oct. 14.

“Some newspapers reported that Lord Velasco is the new speaker. How can you be the new speaker when you still need to be voted upon?” Villafuerte, who attended the meeting at Malacañang, told ANC. “Oct. 14 date was never mentioned during the meeting. They’re (Velasco camp) the ones claiming that. If you’re going to be strict about it, term-sharing deal should kick in on Oct. 22, not Oct. 14.”

Villafuerte said even Cayetano, who reportedly agreed to proceed with the term-sharing deal during the meeting with the President and Velasco the other night, would have his hands tied should the House majority decide not to honor the agreement and support a new speaker.

“Speaker Alan said he would resign anytime should Duterte so wish, but he cannot control the majority. He is willing to resign anytime, but he cannot speak for his colleagues,” Villafuerte stressed, adding that Cayetano “cannot do anything if the majority votes to keep him.”

“Lawmakers want Alan to stay, and that’s not in defiance of the President, but because they’re asserting their personal positions. They have valid concerns... We want a leader who has a voice, who has a stand,” he added.

Villafuerte said Velasco should “start getting the confidence” of the majority, citing the possibility of the supermajority rejecting his speakership bid.

During the meeting at Malacañang, Villafuerte said he and other allies of Cayetano told the President that “we don’t want to change the commanding general of the House amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”

But the leader of a political bloc admitted that congressmen would most likely heed the wish of Duterte as head of the administration coalition.

Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., president of the National Union Party – the second biggest bloc in Congress – explained that congressmen historically follow the direction of the sitting president.

“It would be too idealistic to say that there would be complete independence on the part of the House of Representatives. We have our own respective congressional districts and insofar as Philippine politics is concerned, it is always a case of what projects we can deliver to our constituents,” he told ANC.

An ally of Velasco said the Oct. 14 turnover was agreed upon by both camps during the meeting.

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Doy Leachon said the President urged Cayetano and Velasco “to honor their words.”

“Both parties agreed to leadership change on Oct. 14 in front of the President,” Leachon maintained. “The President did not want to impose but let both parties come to some terms. Cayetano hoped that he would still be speaker on his birthday on Oct. 28. Congressman Velasco, on the other hand, said his birthday is on Nov. 9. Both of them agreed on the Oct. 14 date.”
Leachon said the two agreed that there would be no change in other House leadership posts.

Villafuerte, however, claimed that Velasco’s camp is planning to change the chairpersons of the powerful committee on appropriations as well as on good governance and public accountability.

Senators ready to work with Congress

As this developed, senators said they are ready to work with whoever is the House speaker, but stressed that they will not compromise their stand on certain issues, including the crafting of the national budget.

“We can work with any speaker as long as we have the same perspective,” Senate President Vicente Sotto III said.

Sotto said it would be better if the Senate and House leaderships revive the “mini-LEDAC” – referring to the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council. This is the regular and informal but generally binding meeting between leaders of both chambers to set the legislative agenda and timetable.

He said the meetings were halted due to the pandemic, and that he and Cayetano have spoken over the phone to discuss matters.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who is always at loggerheads with the House leadership during the budget deliberation season, said: “No matter who leads the House, the Senate, or at least like-minded senators who choose to be the vanguards against the legislative abuse of the power of the purse will not be affected.”

“We will continue to exercise what is expected of us in exercising our mandate and our obligation to the Filipino people in this regard,” Lacson said.

Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, who was present at the Malacañang meeting, said he respects the internal processes of the House.

 “What is far more important is for the entire Congress to continue deliberating on the legislative agenda and priorities of the Duterte administration, including the 2021 national budget and other priority measures,” Go said.

 He added that all those concerned must not lose sight of the most important mission of serving the people.

 “Let’s just work, especially now that we’re fighting a pandemic,” Go said in Filipino. – With Paolo Romero