Eric Yap: I have '99% feeling' Cayetano will remain House Speaker

House Committee on Appropriations chair Eric Yap on Monday said he has a "99%" feeling that Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano will remain at the helm of the House of Representatives amid a supposed plot to remove him and other leaders of the chamber from power.

Yap's remark came after presidential son and Deputy Speaker Paolo Duterte sent a message to lawmakers saying he would ask the Mindanao Bloc to declare the Speaker and Deputy Speaker positions vacant this afternoon amid issues involving budgetary allocations for the legislative districts of congressmen.

"Ito, opinyon ko lang ito pero I have 99.9% feeling na talagang si Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano pa rin ang magiging Speaker namin dahil wala namang problema sa pamamalakad niya," Yap said in an interview with ANC.

"So yung ibang mga parochial concerns ng mga congressman, we try to address that. So magkakaroon kami ng majority caucus para pag-usapan ano ba talaga ang problem," he added.

Duterte confirmed sending the text message asking lawmakers to declare House leadership seats vacant, which he said "was an expression of my personal dismay upon hearing the concerns of my fellow lawmakers."

Although numerous lawmakers had called to tell him their concerns over their districts' budget allocations, he maintained that he does not want to get involved in the ongoing budgetary squabbles.

Yap clarified that it was not Duterte himself who would move to declare the seats vacant.

"Sinasabi niya (Duterte) sa mga members na kung kayo nagrereklamo, hindi kayo masaya sa leadership, eh di kayo ang mag-declare ng vacancy sa speakership. Ang stand niya from the start pagdating sa budget, ayaw niyang makialam," he said.

"Never naman niyang sinabi na he will declare, ang sabi niya he will ask the Mindanao Bloc kung may reklamo, then sila ang mag-declare. Kasi siya wala naman siyang reklamo dahil hindi siya nakikialam sa budget," he added.

Nevertheless, Yap said he himself remains supportive to the leadership of Cayetano.

As for Duterte, Yap added: "He remains loyal to the institution so kung ano ang mapagkasunduan ng majority, doon siya."

In a separate interview with Dobol B sa News TV, Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte said Duterte and Cayetano have already talked amid the supposed coup plot.

"Ang alam ko kasi nag-usap na rin si Speaker and Deputy Speaker Pulong. I think na-settle naman lahat yung mga concerns na pinaparating sa kanya. Even in the same way na kung meron man, aayusin yun," he said.

"Kasi ang talagang objective naman ni Speaker Cayetano, people first, politics later. Kung meron man diyang nag-ingay, individual parochial concern niya 'yun at hindi naman dapat maapektuhan ang Congress," he added.

Last week, Negros Oriental Representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. and Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte traded barbs over infrastructure funds allocated in legislative districts.

Teves, during the budget briefing of the Department of Public Works and Highways, questioned the supposedly massive allocations for Taguig City and Camarines Sur, the legislative districts of Cayetano and Villafuerte, and claimed that they amount to P8 billion and P11.8 billion respectively.

Villafuerte, in response, dismissed Teves' claims as a "sinister ploy" hatched by supporters of Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco to derail the House's plan to finish the budget deliberations by the end of the month.

Both Cayetano and Velasco have a standing term-sharing agreement in which the former would hold the speakership for 15 months and the latter would take over to finish the next 21 months.

Cayetano would reach the 15th month of his term this October.

But Cavite Representative Elpidio Barzaga Jr. earlier said he believes that Cayetano would still win by a "landslide" if the House of Representatives hold another election for the speakership. —KBK, GMA News