No House leadership change despite games controversy

MANILA, Philippines — The leadership of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano in the House of Representatives remains intact despite massive criticisms hurled against him over issues hounding the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

Rep. Koko Nograles of the Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) party-list said there is no plan among House members to change leadership despite the cryptic social media post of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte that reportedly alluded to Cayetano.

“There is no call for change of leadership,” he told reporters in a weekly forum even as he commented that the subject of the post of the presidential daughter was rather “obvious.”

Nograles made the statement when asked to comment on the post of Mayor Duterte on Instagram last Sunday where she reminded House members of her earlier warning.

Duterte’s post reads: “‘I told you so’ is a sure-fire way to kick-start an argument. In the same way, ‘you do not listen’ will ignite a conversation into a heated one. May I just say to everyone in Congress, ‘I told you but you did not listen so there you go.’”

Cayetano has drawn flak as chair of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC) over the P55-million cauldron for the ceremonies, the still unfinished venues and several problems in accommodation and food of athletes.

Prior to the snafus in the SEA Games, allies of Cayetano had hinted on the possibility of him continuing as House speaker until 2022 despite a term-sharing arrangement with Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco.

Last Sunday, President Duterte said Cayetano and Velasco should honor their gentleman’s agreement on term-sharing for the speakership.

“Our agreement is sharing, half-half. Now, if anyone of them would not honor it, be it Lord Velasco or Peter Cayetano, that is… that would be his decision,” Duterte said in an ambush interview in Davao. “But he has to take care that there is an agreement of sharing. If you violate it… Usapan ‘yan (that’s an agreement).”

P7.5-billion budget

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said yesterday that Cayetano would have wanted the P7.5-billion budget for the SEA Games to remain with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) even after the latter resigned as its chief to run for Congress.

On Twitter, Locsin said Cayetano lost the fund completely after he ordered its return to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

“He wanted me to keep the P7.5 billion in DFA and I would manage it from my office after which I will go to jail. I returned it to Ben Diokno in DBM. The President was surprised. Nobody returns money that big. Well, I do,” said Locsin.

He added that he “was told that a senator wanted it parked in PSC (Philippine Sports Commission). But my order was to return it to Ben Diokno in DBM.” Diokno, now governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, was DBM secretary at the time.

During budget deliberations last year, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon questioned the inclusion of P7.5 billion in the DFA budget. Former senator and now Antique Rep. Loren Legarda, then chair of the Senate committee on finance, said it was Cayetano who proposed that the funds be lodged in the DFA budget.

Locsin later asked the Senate to return the money to the Treasury, but it ended up with the PSC.

“I returned it to the DBM. It should go back to Treasury. It might be with PSC which I don’t trust,” he tweeted last April. “I will ask the new DBM secretary to make sure it returns to Treasury. All of it. Drilon suggested PSC but that is wrong. It should go back to Treasury.”

Cayetano yesterday said Drilon is partly to blame for the problems faced by the country in hosting the SEA Games, noting delays in the passage of the 2019 budget.  – With Janvic Mateo