Lord of the HoR

Behaving true to form, the super majority in the House of Representatives shifted loyalties overnight, installing a new leader in the person of the Lord… Allan Velasco of Marinduque (OK, the puns on “Lord” have also grown stale overnight).

For a while it seemed that Alan Peter Cayetano of Taguig would have to be dragged kicking and screaming from the speaker’s post. But political instincts prevailed, and he finally announced he would step down. Still, he will be remembered as the guy who irrevocably resigned as speaker… after being ousted by Velasco’s majority.

All this could have been averted if the so-called Magellan or 15-21 agreement, brokered by President Duterte no less, had been honored like the gentlemen that the parties were supposed to be.

It’s all about power and money – this was the observation of supporters of both contenders for the speaker’s post.

Well of course it is; the entire country knows it. That’s why there are people who consider it most appropriate that one former ranking member of the House of Representatives used to refer to the chamber as the HoR.

In his valedictory speech, posted on social media, Cayetano apologized to Duterte for misreading his wishes, while enumerating the accomplishments of the House in the past 15 months.

Sadly, even if a lawmaker delivers solid legislative work, one is mostly remembered for his or her final performance – in this case, involving the handover of power under a gentleman’s agreement.

*      *      *

Cayetano seems blissfully unaware of the damage this controversy has inflicted on his public image. Apart from being seen as a politician who is no gentleman and who can’t be trusted with his word, there’s a viral combo photo comparing his clinging power with that of a leech (kapit-linta), a gecko (kapit-tuko) and Epoxy. (Kind souls say the winner is Epoxy.)

It’s an unsavory character reference for anyone who might be harboring dreams of higher office: once in power, he can’t let go, and he’ll readily renege on agreements, break promises and concoct excuses for refusing to step down.

Worse, he openly laments that Velasco keeps harping on palabra de honor. Well of course, since most Pinoys believe that a man’s word is his honor. If Cayetano continues to be this tone-deaf about a man’s worth, if he ever seeks the presidency, he could fare worse than he did when he ran for vice president in 2016. Not even the immense popularity of Rodrigo Duterte could pull up his running mate in that race.

Palace insiders swear that Duterte unburdened himself about what he thought of his former running mate during a meeting last week. This was after Cayetano – apparently to avert the agreed upon Oct. 14 handover of power – and without a by-your-leave to the Senate, suspended House sessions until Nov. 16, thus triggering a warning from Senate President Tito Sotto about a reenacted budget.

Duterte, the insiders insist, regretted picking Cayetano instead of Bongbong Marcos as his running mate in 2016.

The President and his mouthpiece, of course, have repeatedly insisted that he no longer wants to have anything to do with the HoR intramurals.

This, however, doesn’t mean that his administration’s eminence grise in the HoR, daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio, could not step in again, as she is widely believed to have done when Pantaleon Alvarez was replaced as speaker by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

That HoR leadership change now seems much less tumultuous than the current one. But then Alvarez was never compared to a gecko, leech or Epoxy.

*      *      *

Cayetano redeemed himself a bit by no longer challenging the election of Velasco yesterday. The new Speaker has so far made the right noises about the need for unity and the urgency of passing the 2021 budget, which is needed for the pandemic response. Duterte, in a meeting with the two men yesterday afternoon, reportedly asked them to form “one majority” and to pass the budget ASAP.

It’s also a pre-election budget – the reason why people suspect that it was so hard for Cayetano to let go of power by today, Oct. 14.

Velasco’s ally Lito Atienza of Buhay party-list, who moved to declare the speaker’s post vacant during that controversial session at the Celebrity Sports Plaza last Monday, told “The Chiefs” that night on OneNews / TV5 that they needed only half a day to delete “inequitable” provisions in the 2021 spending bill.

Atienza was referring to the billions allocated to Taguig and the congressional districts of Cayetano’s staunch allies.

The leadership brawl began heating up over these allocations. Cayetano’s supporters have explained that realistically, a truly equal distribution of congressional allocations is not possible because each district has different needs and circumstances. The best that they can aspire for, they say, is equitable appropriation. Disgruntled lawmakers grouse that the previous leadership failed even in delivering the equitable objective.

Control over the final version of the House spending bill underpins that speakership brawl. It’s now up to Velasco to prove that the leadership change will not delay passage of the budget.

So yes, both camps were right: this battle was all about power and money.

Even in the middle of a crippling pandemic, some things remain the same; there is no new normal in Philippine politics.

As in the past, a typical reaction of the public to the appalling political warfare was, a pox – or coronavirus – on your House.