TIMELINE

The Cayetano-Velasco speakership row

The speakership row between Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco and Taguig-Pateros Representative Alan Peter Cayetano has been landing headlines for around four weeks now as the House deliberated on the proposed 2021 national budget.

No less than President Rodrigo Duterte brokered the term-sharing agreement between the two lawmakers, in which Cayetano would the speakership for 15 months, to be followed by Velasco to complete the succeeding 21 months.

The bout reached a crucial milestone on Monday, when allies of Velasco "elected" him as Speaker in a "session" which Cayetano described as "fake" as it was not held at the plenary hall of the House of Representatives and conducted while the chamber's sessions are suspended.

However, the tug-of-war between the two congressmen, riddled with endless accusations of "coup plots," goes a long way back, even before the current 18th Congress opened in July 2019.

Here are some important episodes in the still-ongoing power squabble between Cayetano and Velasco:

2019

May 29: The three lawmakers mainly vying for the speakership at that time—Cayetano, Velasco, and Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez—met with the President in Tokyo, Japan during his four-day working visit.

It was here, Cayetano said, when the idea of "term-sharing" came about.

June 24: The term-sharing agreement on the speakership was supposedly agreed upon "in principle," said Cayetano. He then expressed disappointment that Velasco did not follow such a deal.

July 8: The President announced that Cayetano was his bet for the speakership. He also said that Cayetano would share the term with Velasco, while Romualdez would serve as majority leader.

July 22: On the day of Duterte's fourth State of the Nation Address, Cayetano was formally elected as House Speaker, garnering 266 votes from his colleagues. Romualdez was also installed as majority leader.

Later on, Velasco was elected chair of the House Committee on Energy, the same position he held in the 17th Congress.

2020

February 27: Cayetano alleged that Velasco had been talking to some congressmen and offering them positions and budget allocations for their districts supposedly to gain their favors amid "coup" plots against him.

That same day, Velasco issued a statement saying that he would honor the term-sharing agreement between him and Cayetano despite the supposed "coup" plots.

September 17: Negros Oriental Representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. questioned inequitable infrastructure allocations for legislative districts, and claimed that Taguig City and Camarines Sur, where the districts of Cayetano and Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte are located, supposedly received P8 billion and P11 billion respectively.

Villafuerte, in response, dismissed Teves' claims as a "sinister ploy" hatched by supporters of Velasco to derail the House's plan to finish the budget deliberations by the end of the month.

This triggered a new wave of the speakership talks at the House.

September 20: Amid the supposedly growing number of complaints from lawmakers on the infrastructure allocations for their districts, the President's son, Deputy Speaker Paolo Duterte, confirmed sending a text message to his colleagues that he would ask the Mindanao Bloc to declare the Speaker position vacant in their session the following day.

"The text message that I sent to another lawmaker—and is now making the rounds—was an expression of my personal dismay upon hearing the concerns of my fellow lawmakers," Paolo said.

He clarified, however, that he does not want to get involved in the budget squabbles at the House.

September 21: Amid the supposed plot to remove Cayetano from his post, the House suspended its session this day only 18 minutes after it was called to order. No motion to declare the Speaker post vacant was made. Cayetano stayed as Speaker.

September 29: Cayetano and Velasco once again met with the President to attempt to iron out the speakership issue. It was on this day when it was reported that Velasco would sit as House Speaker on October 14.

September 30: Fresh from their meeting with the President the previous night, Cayetano, in a surprise move, offered to resign as Speaker to make way for Velasco's term. The offer was immediately rejected by 184 lawmakers.

October 6: Cayetano moved to terminate the plenary debates for the 2021 General Appropriations Bill even without finishing the scheduled deliberations of the proposed budget of at least 20 agencies.

The 2021 GAB was eventually approved on second reading, and the House suspended its sessions until November 16.

Buhay party-list Representative Lito Atienza, however, claimed that some lawmakers had been muted from videoconferencing platform Zoom, barring them from making objections.

October 9: The President called for a special session of Congress from October 13 to 16 to resume the terminated deliberations on the 2021 budget. Both Cayetano and Velasco welcomed the President's call.

October 12: A day before the start of the special session, supporters of Velasco gathered in an events place in Quezon City to "elect" Velasco as Speaker.

A total of 186 lawmakers voted for Velasco, but Cayetano claimed he has the support of 200 House members.

October 13: House members ratified the election of Velasco as Speaker.

Cayetano announced in a Facebook Live that he is tendering his irrevocable resignation as Speaker.— BM/AOL, GMA News