Cayetano to senators: Serve for only three years and see if work actually gets done

Taguig City Representative Alan Peter Cayetano has threatened to have the terms of senators cut to three years to prove that elective officials with three-year terms, including congressmen, cannot do much in that short span of time in office.

Cayetano, whom President Rodrigo Duterte has chosen to become House Speaker, met with some congressmen from the ruling PDP-Laban party on Thursday night.

In his speech, Cayetano clarified reports quoting him as saying that he wanted to extend the terms of congressmen.

"Unang-una walang ganun. Lahat tayo ay haharap sa eleksyon ng 2022. Yet I did say and I will really put my political capital on the line for this, and see how far it will go, na sa three years walang nangyayari sa atin. And I'm not talking about congressmen. I'm talking about mayors, city mayors, governors," Cayetano told his fellow congressmen.

"If the senators do not believe na walang nagagawa yung three years, i-cut natin term nila into three years. E six years sila tapos tutuligsain tayo na ganun tayo," he added.

Cayetano explained that the length of time at which three-year term elective officials can perform their duties is one year, and they will spend the next two years preparing for the upcoming elections.

"Ang tunay na governance ng isang mayor, governor at tayo is still in 2020. One year yan. We will plan, we will work hard, we'll give it our people, we will prevent disasters as much as possible or mitigate the effects. But 2021, everyone's thinking of the next elections already. Then 2022, the same cycle," he said.

Cayetano stressed the importance of all House members working with each other in order get some work done even with only three years in office.

"Kung tingin nila tayo lang ang problema, e di sige tayo three terms pa rin pero mayor at governor gawin nating four or five years. Pero kapag ganun ang ginawa, gawin na rin nating three years ang senador, tutal sabi nila pwede ka nang maging productive in three years," he said. —LDF, GMA News