Duterte sees trouble if speaker deal not honored

MANILA, Philippines — There will be a problem if Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano will not honor his term-sharing agreement with Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco, President Duterte said on Monday. 

Under the agreement, which was forged in the presence of Duterte, Cayetano will become Speaker for 15 months while Velasco will serve for the remaining 21 months.

Despite the deal, some lawmakers are raising the possibility of Cayetano staying on as speaker due to his high trust and approval ratings.

“I was there when we agreed, the three of us. I announced it after.

If he (Cayetano) does not want to honor it, that’s his problem... it is going to be a problem,” Duterte said. “We will solve the problem when we get there. It remains to be hypothetical,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Cayetano said he would abide by whatever decision Duterte would make should problems arise on the term-sharing agreement with Velasco.

“There is no reason for anyone to worry because we all agreed to let the President decide on the speakership issue. He had a decision and so far that decision stands,” he said. ?He issued the statement after Duterte warned of the possible “problem” on the matter.

“There’s no problem because whatever the President will say, that’s the one I’ll follow. No one needs to think there will be a problem,” Cayetano said.

“I’m not here to give the President problems, I’m here to solve problems,” he added.

Cayetano said Duterte was simply responding to a hypothetical question.

“From the very start, I’ve been very consistent the head of the majority coalition in the House is the President, so he’ll be the one to prevail,” he said.

Cayetano said the issue only cropped up after some lawmakers expressed satisfaction with the performance of the House, such as the swift passage of the proposed national budget for 2020 and high public approval ratings.

He said he could not stop his colleagues from making such pronouncements. – With Paolo Romero