Pulong agrees to be Deputy Speaker for Political Affairs – Cayetano

Davao City representative Paolo Duterte agreed to serve as House Deputy Speaker for Political Affairs under presumptive Speaker Alan Cayetano of Taguig City.

Cayetano revealed the agreement in a Friday Facebook post, explaining they came to the arrangement after a meeting with Paolo, son of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Prior to this meeting, Paolo had said that the speakership race had not been resolved and that Cayetano could face a "coup" despite President Duterte himself having backed Cayetano's speakership bid last July 8.

While he endorsed Cayetano, President Duterte said that Cayetano would share the speakership term with Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco of the ruling PDP-Laban Party.

Velasco would serve as the top House leader for the last 21 months of the 18th Congress.

Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez, on the other, would serve as House Majority Leader, as brokered by President Duterte.

The House of Representatives is set to elect the Speaker on July 22 at 10 a.m. when 18th Congress opens its First Regular Session ahead of President Duterte’s fourth State of the Nation Address.

Paolo Duterte had, at one point, also shown interest in becoming Speaker, given that his father’s allies remained divided on the House leadership race. — Llanesca T. Panti/DVM, GMA News