Roque: Duterte unlikely to meet Cayetano, Velasco anew over speakership row

There might be no more meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and two of his allies fighting for the leadership of the House of Representatives.

In an interview with state-run PTV on Wednesday, Duterte’s spokesperson Harry Roque said the President had already given his position on the leadership squabble involving Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco.

“Siguro wala na. Nasabi na niya ang lahat ng dapat niyang sabihin sa parehong partido," Roque said when asked if there would be more meetings between Duterte and the two House members. 

"Ang kaniyang hiling: Huwag i-hostage ang budget; kinakailangan natin itong COVID-19 budget na ito,” he added.

Duterte met with Cayetano and Velasco on September 29 supposedly to iron out the leadership issue.

Cayetano offered to resign the next day to make way for Velasco, with whom he had a term-sharing agreement that was brokered by the President, but this was rejected by the majority of House members.

The Taguig lawmaker then met with Duterte, who insisted that the speakership was an internal matter of the House.

On October 5, Velasco met with Duterte to seek the latter’s permission to run for speaker. Duterte, in response, said that it was Velasco’s “right” to seek the highest post in the House under the term-sharing agreement. -NB, GMA News