Cayetano eyes longer term as speaker
Credit to Author: GLEE JALEA| Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2019 18:20:14 +0000
House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said on Monday he was willing to serve as full term leader of the lower chamber if Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco would forego their term-sharing pact.
“Well I’m open to the possibility if Congressman Velasco himself would say, ‘You do it.’ I won’t convince him otherwise anymore,” Cayetano told the media in English and Filipino.
Under the deal, Cayetano would sit as speaker for 15 months while Velasco would have 21 months.
“Having said that, [Velasco] has his own leadership, following, and he also heads the party of our President (Rodrigo Duterte) so I have to also respect that,” Cayetano said, referring to the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) headed by Velasco in the House.
Cayetano still has 12 months to serve as speaker.
“I am planning for 12 more months. So hopefully, we can work on full blast during that time and until that time, it would be good to focus on what we need to do because if not, there will likely be disunity,” he said.
Cayetano, who was appointed speaker in July, garnered a 64-percent approval rating and a 62-percent trust rating in the third quarter survey of Pulse Asia.
Some of his allies in the lower chamber attributed these high ratings to his strong leadership.
“I’m very proud of the 18th Congress, but we have an agreement. And so far, the President is not changing it,” Cayetano said.
The Manila Times reached out to the camp of Velasco but has not gotten any response as of posting.