Velasco asked Duterte’s OK to run for Speaker; President said it’s his right —Palace

Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco sought President Rodrigo Duterte’s permission to seek the speakership during their meeting on Monday night in Malacañang, Palace spokesperson Harry Roque said Tuesday. 

Roque said it was Velasco who requested the meeting with Duterte, which came days after the President and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano also met in Malacañang over the leadership tussle in the House of Representatives. 

“Humingi po ng permiso si Congressman Lord Allan para tumakbo bilang Speaker at ang sagot po ng Presidente: ‘Karapatan mo ‘yan, sang-ayon sa kasunduan ninyo kay Speaker Alan Cayetano,’” Roque said in a televised briefing. 

“I will refrain from annotating what has been said," he added.

Earlier, Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte asked Velasco to "move on" from his speakership bid after the House rejected Cayetano's offer to resign on September 30. 

Velasco, meanwhile, accused Cayetano of trying to blackmail the President and hold the budget hostage if his term is not extended.

He also challenged Cayetano to honor the term-sharing agreement brokered by Duterte and step down from the speakership on October 14.

Under the agreement, Cayetano would hold the speakership for 15 months and Velasco would take over to finish the succeeding 21 months.

In his meeting with Cayetano on Wednesday last week, Duterte reiterated his position that the leadership squabble at the House is an internal matter of a co-equal branch of government, Roque earlier said. —KG, GMA News