NPC’s choice for House Speaker? Whoever Duterte picks, Sotto says

The House members from the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) will accept whomever President Rodrigo Duterte chooses to be Speaker, acting chairman of the party and Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Wednesday.

"As far as NPC is concerned, ang pagkakaalam ko, the majority sentiment of the group is kung ano ang sabihin ni President Duterte ay doon sila. Iyon ang sitwasyon," Sotto told reporters in an online interview.

"Now, if you ask my personal opinion, I have no opinion at all for that matter. As Senate President and as a co-member of a co-equal branch, or a co-equal parliamentary courtesy is concerned, hindi kami dapat makialam sa leadership nila," he added.

Sotto confirmed that the NPC held a meeting on Wednesday to assess the situation as the leadership issue between Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco continues.

The Senate leader, however, said that he is yet to hear about the latest results of the said NPC meeting because the busy schedule in the Senate hindered him from attending.

"It's more or less an assessment of the situation and what ‘s happening. Iyon ang meeting ngayon," he said.

Meanwhile, Malacanang said Duterte views the House squabble as an internal matter of a co-equal branch of the government and would not meddle with it.

Senator Panfilo Lacson, nevertheless, believes that the President should once and for all give a "clear signal" to end the issue which he believes has already affected the approval of the national budget for 2021.

Cayetano and Velasco are both allies of the President.

The incumbent House speaker comes from the Nacionalista Party and was Duterte's running mate in 2016, while Velasco is a partymate of the President in the PDP-Laban. — BM, GMA News