Palace: Duterte says Velasco can seek House speakership

MANILA, Philippines (Update 2, 2:32 p.m.) — The race for the top post at the House of Representatives continues to heat up with President Rodrigo Duterte giving his blessing for Rep. Lord Allan Velasco (Marinduque) to seek the House leadership.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque and Rep. Doy Leachon (Oriental Mindoro) said Tuesday that Duterte is allowing Velasco to run for speaker, in accordance with the term-sharing deal he brokered in 2019 between the Marinduque lawmaker and Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano (Taguig-Pateros).

In his regular press briefing in Malacañang, Roque said Duterte told Velasco in Filipino that running for the speakership is his "right under the agreement between you and Speaker Alan Cayetano."

Meanwhile, Leachon quoted Duterte as telling Velasco, "Lord, it is your right time now. I have already spoken. You have to insist your right based on the term-sharing agreement."

"That's why we expect Speaker Alan Cayetano to resign on October 14 and to abide by the term-sharing agreement because his time is already up," said Leachon, who, like Velasco and Duterte, hails from the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan.

Leachon added that anyone who would break away from the term-sharing agreement would be "defying the wishes of the president."

Cayetano had also separately met with Duterte last Wednesday, after he offered his resignation which was rejected by 184 congressmen. The president said then that he respects the House's vote.

This marks the first time Velasco met with Duterte separately following his and Cayetano's meeting with the chief executive last Tuesday where they attempted to settle the term-sharing question.

During the meeting, the president insisted 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. — with a report from Ria Fernandez/News5