Sotto: Senate can work with any House speaker

Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Wednesday said the upper chamber can work with the House regardless of who sits as speaker, as long as they share the same vision.

"We can work with any Speaker as long as we have the same perspective," Sotto said in a message.

Sotto made the remark amid pending formal announcement if the term-sharing agreement between Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco would be honored.

He added that the two houses of Congress shall continue to coordinate on priority measures through a "mini" Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council.

On Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte had a meeting with Cayetano and Velasco to discuss the House speakership but no formal announcement on the final decision has been announced yet.

The two congressmen reached a "gentlemen's agreement" in 2019 in which Cayetano would be at the helm of the House for the first 15 months while Velasco would have the post for the next 21 months.

Cayetano's 15 months is set to end in October. Some of his supporters however accused Velasco of doing "nothing" and was just waiting to claim the speakership "as if it was his birthright."

Velasco, upholding that the term-sharing agreement should be honored, said his silence in the past months was "in deference and respect to the sitting Speaker." —KG, GMA News