House reopens debates on 2021 budget after Cayetano ouster

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives reopened debates on the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 after ousting Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (Taguig-Pateros) as speaker, replacing him with Rep. Lord Allan Velasco (Marinduque).

Rep. Juan Pablo “Rimpy” Bondoc (Pampanga) moved to retract the passage of the spending plan on second reading and to reopen debates on the measure. No one objected to his motions.

Cayetano railroaded the passage of the budget on second reading last week, abruptly halting crucial debates on the measure, supposedly to show that he is not holding the spending plan hostage to cling to the speakership. 

This also came with the suspension of the House session until November 16, which effectively avoided any challenge to Cayetano’s leadership come October 14 — the supposed end-date for the first half of the term-sharing deal between him and Velasco brokered by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019.

However, Duterte, who has been fed up with the jockeying by the two factions, stepped in and called for a special session of Congress from October 13 to 16.

The Velasco faction did not wait until October 13 to install him to the top post in the House, with 146 lawmakers declaring the speakership vacant and electing the Marinduque lawmaker as speaker in a session on October 12 at Celebrity Sports Plaza in Quezon City.

To quash questions on the validity and legality of Velasco’s election, lawmakers ratified it on Tuesday in a session at Batasang Pambansa.

Duterte once again called Cayetano and Velasco to a meeting on Tuesday, where the two lawmakers agreed to “work together as one majority” to ensure the passage of the 2021 budget on time, Malacañang said.

Addressing the plenary following his meeting with Duterte, Velasco said he and Cayetano have made amends and added that he hopes he can also extend a “healing hand” to the former speaker’s allies following the bitter squabble for the speakership.