Paolo Duterte elected as chair of House accounts panel

In what appears to be a fulfillment of a provision in the term-sharing agreement, presidential son Davao City Representative Paolo Duterte on Tuesday was elected as chairman of the House Committee on Accounts.

Deputy Majority Leader Juan Pablo "Rimpy" Bondoc moved to nominate and elect the younger Duterte to the position.

With no objection from the plenary, Deputy Speaker Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales declared Bondoc's motion carried.

According to the House website, the Committee on Accounts is tasked to deal with "all matters directly and principally relating to the internal budget of the House including budget preparation, submission and approval, disbursements, accounting, and financial operations."

Under the 2021 National Expenditure Program, the House has a proposed budget of P15.6 billion for next year.

This amount is lower than the P15.8 billion that the chamber received under the 2020 General Appropriations Act.

Prior to Duterte's election, Cavite Representative Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino held the chairmanship of the said committee.

Taguig-Pateros Representative Alan Peter Cayetano has said that under his term-sharing agreement with Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco, only the Speaker post and the chairmanship of the accounts committee will be changed.

"Ang usapan namin ang magpapalit kami lang. At worse, pati yung Committee on Accounts," he said in an earlier radio interview.

On Tuesday, Velasco was officially elected as the Speaker of the House, with Cayetano resigning from his post.

Before being elected to the accounts committee, Duterte served as deputy speaker at the House.

He said, though, that he would not take part in the speakership row at the chamber, as well as in the budget squabbles involving lawmakers.—AOL, GMA News