MANILA, Philippines — Taguig-Pateros Representative Alan Peter Cayetano tendered his irrevocable “resignation” as Speaker of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, October 13, minutes after lawmakers ousted him and proclaimed Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco as the new House speaker at the plenary hall.
Cayetano announced that he is leaving his post through a Facebook Live video around 11:52 am on Tuesday. Velasco had already been proclaimed new House speaker around 11:43 am.
The outgoing speaker has also apologized to Duterte that he may have “misunderstood” what he wanted in terms of the speakership “term-sharing” agreement with Velasco. Cayetano said he thought the instruction was for him to remain as Speaker until the 2021 national budget bill is finished and passed.
Read: Cayetano’s offer to resign gets rejected
Velasco had said Duterte felt duped by Cayetano, his running mate in the 2016 presidential elections.
Cayetano said: “Ang pagkaalam ko talaga, I was to handle the budget and I was told, until matapos ‘yung budget, para walang disruption, and I invited Representative Velasco to join me.” (The way I understood it, I was to handle the budget and I was told, until the budget is finished, so there won’t be any disruption, and I invited Representative Velasco.)
Read: Velasco is the next House Speaker
(So Mr President, if I made a mistake, my reading was wrong, I misunderstood that you wanted me to continue and finish with the budget, I’m asking for your pardon. It was not my intention, never, to disobey you.)
He then said that the supposed 15-21 agreement with Velasco did not mean that he would relinquish the speakership after a term of 15 months, and Velasco would get the next 21 months.
“Hindi po 15-21. Ang sinabi ko, after 15 months, I will go to the President and kung ano ang order niya, iyon ang susundin ko (It was not 15-21. What I said was, after 15 months, I will go to the President and whatever his order would be, I would follow it),” Cayetano said.
“The budget should have been finished by October, and we all knew that the handover would be in November. So when Congressman Velasco’s group caused a stir in September, the budget process was disrupted. I tried to save it by passing it quickly on 2nd reading,” Cayetano said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Rappler
Inquirer.Net