Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said Tuesday he will let President Rodrigo Duterte decide if he stays in his post after his 15 months under a term-sharing agreement with Marinduque Rep. Lord Alan Velasco that the Chief Executive brokered.
“As of now, all of us are working very hard [to push the legislative agenda of the President]. I am working very well with everyone, especially [with] our Majority Leader Martin [Romualdez] and he has been producing for the House,” Cayetano said at the inspection of the P13-billion New Clark City sports complex in Pampanga.
Cayetano said he will meet with President Duterte one or two months before his 15-month speakership ends “to know his fate.”
“I promise the President, I’ll do a good job and one month or two months before in the middle of the agreement, I’ll go to him for instructions. Whatever the President has to say, we will all abide by it. That was the agreement then, Majority Leader Martin Romualdez and congressman Velasco all agreed to it,” Cayetano said.
He said Duterte as the titular head of the supermajority will decide his fate on the House leadership.
Nevertheless, Cayetano assured Velasco that he has nothing to worry about and that what is important is for them to pass the legislative agenda of Duterte.
Earlier, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, chairman of the House committee on natural resources, said Cayetano’s 64 percent and 62-percent approval and trust ratings in the Pulse Asia survey “are remarkable if we consider the low marks the House received in previous Congresses.”
Barzaga said the term-sharing arrangement for the position of Speaker may soon be scuttled.
“If Speaker Cayetano sustains his good performance as shown by his high trust and approval ratings in the latest Pulse Asia quarterly report, there would be a groundswell among House members and the public for him to stay on,” Barzaga said.
“I am sure he will sustain that performance. There is no reason for him not to. So why change or swap horses in midstream? We might as well retain him as our Speaker for three years until June 30, 2022,” he added.
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