Three more House leaders lose posts as speakership row drags on

MANILA, Philippines — Three more House leaders lost their posts as the leadership row in the chamber drags on.

Rep. Angelina Tan (Quezon), Rep. Sharon Garin (AAMBIS-OWA party-list) and Rep. Eric Martinez (Valenzuela City) were replaced from their committee chairmanships during Tuesday’s plenary session.

Tan, who headed the House Committee on Health, was replaced by Rep. Ma. Lucille Nava (Guimaras), while Martinez, who led the House Committee on Youth and Sports, was replaced by Rep. John Marvin Nieto (Manila).

Garin, an ally of speakership aspirant Rep. Lord Allan Velasco (Marinduque), was stripped of her committee chairmanship in the economic affairs panel and was replaced by Rep. Teodorico Haresco Jr. (Aklan).

Rep. Michael Romero (1-PACMAN party-list), also a Velasco ally, had earlier been booted out as deputy speaker and replaced with Rep. Fredenil Castro (Capiz) who had called on those who cannot unite behind Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to resign from their leadership posts.

Meanwhile, a special committee on creative industry and performing arts was created, with Rep. Christopher De Venecia (Pangasinan) as its chairperson and Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez (Leyte) as vice-chairperson.

The reshuffling of House leadership posts came a few moments before Cayetano took the floor to move to end plenary deliberations on the 2021 budget to supposedly prove that he is not holding the fiscal plan hostage to cling to the speakership — an allegation hurled at him by Velasco and his allies.

But Cayetano’s allies also moved to suspend House sessions until November 16, which would leave the chamber missing its self-imposed October 14 deadline to pass the P4.5 trillion spending plan.

The suspension also effectively prevents any move to declare the speakership vacant until November 16.

In his privilege speech, Cayetano appealed for decency from those who would use their positions for politicking and destabilizing the House.

“For as long as you can work with us on the budget, you can keep your post. But if you would be politicking, if you would use your positions to destabilize the House, show some decency,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Quarreling over allocations in the 2021 budget has led to a showdown for the House leadership, with the term-sharing deal brokered by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019 between Cayetano and Velasco being put into question.

The two lawmakers had already met with Duterte last Tuesday to settle the term-sharing issue, with the president insisting that the agreement — which should see Cayetano step down from the helm of the House after 15 months to give way for Velasco’s 21-month term — should push through.

However, two different stories emerged from the meeting, with Velasco’s camp claiming that Cayetano is set to step down on October 14, while the speaker’s camp says that no definitive date was agreed upon.