Deputy speaker offer for Cayetano out of 'respect' —Velasco

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco on Monday said he is offering Taguig-Pateros Representative Alan Peter Cayetano a deputy speaker post out of "respect" considering that the latter served at the highest position in the House of Representatives.

In an interview with ANC, Velasco was asked about his offer of deputy speaker post to Cayetano despite the latter’s supposedly "harsh" tirades against the Marinduque lawmaker.

"It is actually mainly because I just want to give respect because he is a former Speaker of the House," Velasco said of his offer.

Velasco could not say for certain if Cayetano will accept his offer, but he said he will offer it to the former Speaker personally.

"We will find out when I offer it to him personally," he said. "If he would allow, I would like to talk to him again."

In a separate interview with GMA News’ Unang Balita, Velasco reiterated the original term-sharing deal on speakership with Cayetano that includes maintaining committee chairmanships was followed.

“But at the end of the day, sinabi ko nga ‘yung original na term-sharing po namin, ang nakasaad po doon ang magpapalit lang po ay kami lang ng speaker at ‘yung chair of accounts,” he said.

“Naipakita naman po natin na pati yung majority leader ko po—ang majority leader ay kasama rin po ‘yan sa term-sharing— ay siya pa rin ang majority leader natin, si Majority Leader Martin Romualdez," he added.

Velaso pointed out that Cayetano already broke this deal after he denied him the speakership four times.

“Unang-una sa lahat, ‘yung hinihingi niya na ‘palabra de honor’ na-break na niya po ‘yan.  'Yung kanyang pagtupad sa term-sharing, binreak na niya po ‘yan apat na beses,” he said.

Earlier, Cayetano called on Velasco to "honor" his word by not replacing any of the leadership positions at the House of Representatives.

Cayetano made the remark after chairpersons of two committees at the House were replaced, which he said should not be the case under their term-sharing agreement.

On the other hand, Velasco said in the ANC interview that he made no promises that the budget for Taguig City will not be touched.

"There weren't any promises made," he said.

Negros Oriental Representative Arnolfo Teves earlier questioned the supposedly inequitable distribution of infrastructure allocations among legislative districts under the proposed 2021 national budget, with Taguig City supposedly having P8 billion and Camarines Sur with P11 billion.

But Villafuerte said that out of the supposed P11 billion infrastructure funding for his province, only P3.3 billion is actually allocated for his district.

Cayetano has likewise denied the claim that "60%" of the budget of Metro Manila would go to Taguig City.

Last week, the House ratified the election of Velasco as Speaker while Villafuerte was removed from the deputy speaker post the next day.—AOL, GMA News