MANILA – Instead of resorting to theatrics, Marinduque District Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco urged Taguig-Pateros 1st District Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano anew to leave the speakership post on October 14 as part of the term-sharing deal forged last year.
Velasco, in a statement posted on his Facebook page, said he was saddened that the issue has turned into a circus preventing the lawmakers from doing their job, including the passage of the 2021 national budget.
“We lost an entire day, and even tomorrow where you have declared that no session will be conducted, which are crucial in meeting our timeline,” Velasco said.
“These attacks and distractions serve no purpose other than to perpetuate what is a purely personal agenda threatening to delay the passage of the budget. This is the truth,” he added.
Under the term-sharing deal that President Rodrigo Duterte brokered last year, Cayetano will lead the House for the first 15 months of the 18th Congress or until October 2020, while Velasco will take over the reins for the next 21 months.
“To Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, it was only on Tuesday night when you promised to resign on Oct. 14 when the President ordered you to honor the term-sharing agreement,” Velasco said, pertaining a meeting with Duterte at Malacañang Palace on Tuesday.
“The President entrusted you with the task of announcing the date of the turnover. October 14 was chosen as the date for the turnover because we committed to pass the budget before Oct. 14 and do nothing else that would disrupt or derail the process,” he added.
‘POLITICAL AFFRONT’ TO DUTERTE
Meanwhile, an ally of Velasco slammed Cayetano’s theatrics on Wednesday afternoon as a “political affront” to President Rodrigo Duterte.
Oriental Mindoro 1st District Rep. Doy Leachon said on Thursday that Cayetano should be gentleman enough to honor the speakership term-sharing deal with Velasco.
“We’ll just wait for Oct. 14 to happen. After all it was the original agreement of the parties,” Leachon said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.
“With all due respect to Cayetano, there’s actually no offer to resign because under the law the resignation must be definite in character,” he added.
“The votation yesterday actually does not amount to any whether they’re voting for Speaker or Cong. Velasco. It’s just that you will reject the offer,” he further said./PN
