Cayetano tags Velasco's 'election' as Speaker a sham

Speaker Alan Cayetano has tagged the "election" of Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco as the new Speaker as fake, saying the proceedings were conducted illegally outside Batasang Pambansa to derail the budget deliberations on the proposed P4.5 trillion national budget for 2021. 

Cayetano made the allegation as around 186 lawmakers "elected" Velasco as the new Speaker at the same time in accordance with the term sharing deal that Cayetano inked with Velasco in 2019. 

This election came ahead of the special session called by President Rodrigo Duterte on October 13 to 16—a move prompted by Cayetano’s decision to adjourn the session last October 6 and scuttling the October 14 deadline for passing the 2021 national budget on third and final reading.

“Ang purpose nila, manggulo. The last time I checked, ang Celebrity Sports Club ay hindi Kongreso. They are throwing the Constitution to waste. Fake session ang ginagawa nila," Cayetano said in a new conference. 

“This is a very disturbing precedent. Sabi nila, basta may quorum. Basta may quorum, they can meet any day and anywhere and do whatever they want? Kung valid 'yan, banana republic na tayo,” Cayetano added.

Cayetano then warned that he will never allow Velasco and his camp to mess around with the scheduled budget deliberations.

“I will not allow you to burn this House down. I love this institution. Marami na akong Goliath na kinalaban,” Cayetano said.

“Kung ang gagawin niyo, ipapasa ang budget, magkakampi tayo. Ang gagawin niyo, papalitan lang ako, hindi ako hahadlang. But you try to burn this House down, you are in for one hell of a fight,” he added. —KG, GMA News