Cayetano likened to emperor with no clothes, urged to stop charade as Speaker

Taguig Representative Alan Cayetano’s insistence that he remains the Speaker of the House will not make the majority of the House members follow him, Majority Leader Juan Pablo “Rimpy” Bondoc said Tuesday. 

Bondoc made the comment hours ahead of the special session in Congress in accordance with the call of President Rodrigo Duterte, and a day after Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco was "elected" as the new Speaker by a majority vote of 186 House members in an informal session outside Batasang Pambansa.

The President’s call for a special session to deliberate and approve the proposed P4.5 trillion national budget was 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.

“The emperor has no clothes. Even if he continues to act as Speaker, the body does not follow him [anymore]. Sir, hindi na po kayo ang Speaker,” Bondoc said in an ANC interview.

“I have seen many speakership battles. The opposing camp that doesn't have the numbers have graciously accepted it and found a way to work with the majority. Let us put off the charade and work for the Filipino people,” Bondoc added. 

Bondoc however expressed confidence that Cayetano’s refusal to recognize Velasco’s election as the new Speaker will not stop Velasco from presiding over the special session scheduled on October 13 to 16 as the new House leader. 

"It was a bad breakup. Let us all be adults here," Bondoc said.

Based on House records, there are 299 House members—meaning the 186 votes that Velasco got was a majority vote. Velasco’s camp, however, has yet to release the names of the 186 members. 

Bondoc assured the public that the list of the House members who voted for Velasco will be made public in time since there are more lawmakers who expressed support for Velasco after he got the support of 186 lawmakers.

“There are 186, and 120 were physically present. There are many others who told me they would have voted to [for Velasco] if they had a chance. We will release it,” Bondoc said.

Cayetano on Monday tagged the "election" of Velasco as the new Speaker as fake, saying the proceedings were conducted illegally outside Batasang Pambansa to derail the budget deliberations.

His camp on Monday also released a "manifesto" of support for Cayetano, supposedly signed by a total of 200 lawmakers.

At the same time, the lawmakers who signed the manifesto also believe that Cayetano's offer to resign from his position last September 30 had rendered the term-sharing agreement between him and Velasco "moot and academic." Cayetano and Velasco had a term-sharing agreement brokered by Duterte wherein the former will sit as Speaker for 15 months, and Velasco for the remaining 21 months.

“We therefore call on Congressman Velasco to respect the collective desire of his peers to allow the continuation of Speaker Cayetano’s exemplary leadership," they added.

However, two lawmakers—Maguindanao Representative Esmael Mangudadatu and Zamboanga Del Sur Representative Divina Grace Yu—whose signatures appeared on the manifesto on Monday denied that they signed the document. —KG, GMA News