Let’s buckle down to work — Cayetano

MANILA, Philippines — Presumptive speaker Alan Peter Cayetano urged his colleagues in the 306-member House of Representatives to set aside politics when the 18th Congress convenes on July 22. 

“Our plan in the next 15 months and three years is that we hit the ground running,” the returning lawmaker from Taguig-Pateros told his allies whom he met recently, along with would-be House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez of Leyte. 

“We will be doing things much faster than before,” Cayetano added. “We will try to apply what we have learned in math – the closest distance between two points is a straight line…”  

At the same time, Cayetano said he plans to designate another batch of deputy speakers aside from the 14, who are chosen from Northern, Central, Southern Luzon, Eastern and Western Visayas and Southern and Northern Mindanao. 

“We want to put a deputy speaker for finance, a deputy speaker for education,” he said, other than the House deputy for internal affairs to be led by Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales II. 

The deputy for finance will have to meet regularly with the House ways and means committee, while the deputy for education will also be discussing matters with the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Cayetano said.

Opposition

As this developed, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman yesterday urged Cayetano to let a real opposition emerge in the House.

He lamented that while Cayetano has repeatedly promised to institute reforms, “he has never mentioned about respecting the emergence of an authentic minority leader.”

“On the contrary, one of his leading lieutenants has unabashedly and categorically said a particular representative who belongs to the opposition is not welcome as minority leader,” Lagman noted.

Lagman was referring to Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, who has claimed that the minority in the House does not represent the opposition.

According to Salceda, the next minority leader and his members could come from the ranks of President Duterte’s allies.

Lagman led the opposition in the House in the last Congress. He consistently described the minority bloc headed by then Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez as the “majority’s minority.”

Lagman has volunteered to lead an authentic opposition in the House under Cayetano’s speakership.

He warned Cayetano that the “rejection of a possible minority leader and the accommodation of a favored one is installing a ‘company union’ in disguise.”

“One of the important reforms in the House is the recognition of a genuine and constructive leader of the opposition. A real and responsible opposition will not only assure a democratic legislative process but will also restore the credibility of the House of Representatives,” Lagman said.

Lagman belongs to the opposition Liberal Party (LP), whose members in the House have been split, with most joining the pro-administration majority now led by Cayetano.

Even Lagman’s opposition colleague Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice has jumped to the majority. It is not clear who would join the Albay lawmaker in the opposition.

Unlike in the Senate, where the LP is the minority-opposition, the LP in the House in the 18th Congress would be straddling the majority and the minority, just like in the last Congress. 

Several administration allies are interested in the minority leadership. Among them is Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro, who said he was still awaiting guidance from his supporters.

Castro is a former majority leader and one of the original speakership aspirants. Salceda has endorsed him to be the next minority leader.               – With Jess Diaz