Taguig representative Alan Cayetano resigned following the announcement that he and Congressman Lord Allan Velasco decided to honor their term-sharing agreement.
Inquirer reported Tuesday night that Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco will replace Alan Peter Cayetano as the House Speaker on October 14, following President Rodrigo Duterte’s intervention in the “power struggle” at the Congress.
Duterte met with Velasco and current House Speaker Alan Cayetano at the Palace to settle their term-sharing agreement in leading the 300-member chamber.
According to multiple sources, Cayetano and Velasco settled to honor their initial “15-21” term-sharing deal.
The speakership term-sharing agreement was supposed to be 15 months for Cayetano and 21 months for Velasco.
President Rodrigo Duterte arranged the agreement at the start of the 18th Congress in July last year.
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Alan Cayetano resigns as House Speaker
The speakership turn over would take place on October 14, one of the House insiders said. Neither Velasco nor Cayetano responded to requests for comments on the matter.
“Tapos na po ang [laban] (the fight is over). #1521,” Ron Munsayac, executive director and public information office chair of Velasco’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), wrote on Twitter, using a boxing glove emoji.
Cayetano is from the Nacionalista Party and has sought to consolidate his alliances in the coalition, including with National Unity Party, Lakas-CMD, and allied party-list groups. He was also Duterte’s running mate during the 2015 national elections.
Velasco, meanwhile, is also known as a supporter of Duterte. Lord Velasco and his wife Rowena Velasco are close to the President’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque earlier said it would be awkward if the Palace would announce the who really won the House Speaker “battle” at the Congress.
“I’m surprised why there has not been any pronouncement from Congress, but it would be awkward if the announcement on the leadership of the House will come from the Palace,” he told ANC in an interview.
“I know that the President values palabra de honor and that’s a phrase that I have heard from his own mouth,” he added.