The House of Representatives on Tuesday suspended its session until next month ahead of the anticipated speakership showdown next week.
In a surprise move, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano in plenary session made a motion to terminate the period of debates and amendments on the proposed national budget for 2021, paving the way for the bill’s approval on second reading.
The House earlier set the approval of the budget on third and final reading for Oct. 14″•the day Cayetano was supposed to step down in favor of Marinduque Rep. Lord Alan Velasco, with whom he had a term-sharing agreement that was brokered by President Rodrigo Duterte.
But Cayetano’s motion to suspend the session until Nov. 16 means Velasco will be unable to assume the speakership as agreed on Oct. 14.
Several senators expressed their disappointment that the passage of the P4.5-trillion 2021 national budget was delayed after the House decided to suspend its session until next month amid the feud over the Speakership.
“The HOR has just disregarded the request priority of the President to pass the budget,” Senate President Vicente Sotto III told reporters in a text message.
“There is no way we can finish the budget if it is not submitted to us before the mandated break after Oct 14. Do not blame us!” he said.
Under the law, the House must approve on final reading the National Expenditure Program (NEP) before the Senate can tackle the spending bill in plenary.
“We were hoping that the House would approve the budget bill on third reading BEFORE the congressional break next week as was promised,” Senate Finance Committee chair Sonny Angara said in a separate text message.
Last week President Duterte met with both Cayetano and Velasco to settle the speakership row, after it became clear the former was reluctant to leave his post.
Velasco’s camp said Oct. 14 was the date given to allow Cayetano two weeks to wrap up his business, but Cayetano claimed the President wanted his term extended to December or until the 2021 budget bill is enacted.
Following the meeting with the President, Cayetano offered his resignation in a privilege speech and put it to a vote, in which an overwhelming majority rejected his offer to quit.
Velasco has yet to respond to Cayetano’s latest move, but one of his supporters, Buhay Party-list Lito Atienza, said this "proves beyond doubt that Speaker Cayetano is desperately hanging on."
"He has just publicly confirmed that he is losing ground that’s why he did it," Atienza said.
"What kind of example is Cayetano giving to the young when he is blatantly violating a gentlemen's agreement that he entered into? That it is all right to be dishonorable so long as you stay in power?" Atienza said.
"He didn’t care about constitutional integrity, throwing everything into the air and making Congress go on a long vacation,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
"He caused chaos and he violated all the rules of the House. Many of us were objecting at the top of our voices but again, we were muted on Zoom and all our objections were thrown out the window.”
"This is typical of a poor loser,” he added. “When you’re losing, you’ll just burn down the whole house.”
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Velasco had sought an audience with Duterte late Monday, in which he sought permission to go for the speakership.
“That’s your right under your agreement with Speaker Alan Cayetano,” Roque quoted the President as telling Velasco.
But a Velasco supporter, Oriental Mindoro Rep. Salvador Leachon said the President was clear when he told Velasco that it was not his time, saying, “I have already spoken. You have to insist on your right based on the term-sharing agreement.”
"That's why we expect Speaker Alan Cayetano to resign on Oct. 14 and to abide by the term sharing agreement because his time is already up," Leachon said in a statement.
He added that there was a supermajority in Congress because they abided by the wishes of the President during the speakership race 15 months ago.
He said the supermajority did not belong to Cayetano but owed its allegiance to the President, and to renege on the term-sharing agreement would be to defy the wishes of the President.
Roque, however, said Duterte cannot influence Congress to choose the next speaker.
“It is not the President who chooses the Speaker. That is up to the House of Representatives members,” Roque said in a virtual press briefing.
“Perhaps at the start of Congress, when its members do not know each other yet because most of them are first-termers, the President could be influential. But it is stated in the Constitution that that is the decision of the House of Representatives,” the Palace spokesman said.
Duterte and Velasco’s meeting took place around 10 p.m. Monday after the President’s meeting with Cabinet members and his regular nation address.
Roque has consistently said the speakership squabble was an internal matter of the House.