Hail to the supreme swing in Congress

THE House speakership squabble came to an end on Monday, October 12 when 186 members of the House of Representatives voted Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco the new speaker.

Prior to this, former speaker Alan Peter Cayetano was intransigent in his position not to let go of the post given him in accordance with the term-sharing arrangement between him and Velasco as brokered by President Duterte himself. Under the arrangement, Cayetano would rule the House for the first 15 months of the current 18th Congress with the post being turned over to Velasco for the next 21 months.

I vaguely recall that as the end of the 15 months was approaching, Cayetano issued a dare for Velasco to show his numbers, saying something like, “The problem is, granting I gave up the speakership, will he (Velasco) win?”

Well, Velasco proved he will. At end of last week, a manifesto signed by 187 members of the House was circulated in the media, calling for, among other things:

“In accordance with Section 13, Rule 3 of the Rules of the House of Representatives of the 18th Congress, we call to assemble, move to and cast our vote to declare the position of Speaker VACANT on Monday, October 12, 2020.

“Further, also in accordance with the same section, we will move to and cast our vote to declare Representative Lord Allan Velasco of Marinduque as Speaker of the House of Representatives of the 18th Congress.”

Very tersely, the ManilaTimes reported the transpiration on Monday at the start of the special session of the House of Representatives thus:

“Lawmakers have elected Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco as speaker of the House of Representatives.

“With 186 lawmakers voting yes, the position of House speaker was declared vacant on Monday in a session held by lawmakers at the Celebrity Sports Plaza in Quezon City.

Following this, 1- Pacman party- list Rep. Michael Romero nominated Velasco as speaker, seconded by party-list Rep. Jose “Lito” Atienza Jr. “Lawmakers thus held a voting. “Velasco immediately took his oath.”

That Velasco would get the post in the controversy should be a foregone conclusion. The integrity of the President of the Philippine Republic was at stake. Though earlier Malacañang issued a hands-off policy of the President on the House rivalry, it should be presumed that what the President arranged in the first place must be upheld or his authority is jeopardized. It was typically Cayetano’s covetousness of power (that is, for money) that threatened the tiff coming to a head. Remember the controversy over the conduct of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games? It turned out a huge budget of P6 billion for the games had been worked out by Cayetano at Congress. Just four months before the games, the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) was constituted to oversee the event. However, under normal protocol, the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) has been traditionally on top of events sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee. And Peping Cojuangco, the POC president deposed by Ricky Vargas, had seized the opportunity to get back at Vargas who was made a co-chairman of the Phisgoc, accusing him of conflict of interest. The bone of contention really was the perks to be had from the huge P6 billion SEA Games allocation. Who was Vargas’ co-chair in the Phisgoc? The guy who worked out that gargantuan amount — Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano.

So now, in the House speakership controversy, what is the bone of contention?

As news accounts have it, the Velasco and Cayetano camps are at odds over the manner of allocating the P4.5 trillion budget covered by the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Cayetano would assign the matter of approving the GAA to a special committee of his choice. The Velasco camp would have none of this. According to them, this bastardizes the representational character of Congress whereby decisions are made in the plenary by representatives elected by the people and not a select few chosen by a House monarch.

It was for this reason that passage of the 2021 GAA had gotten stalled. Cayetano was insisting it be done his way — as he did the P6 billion budget of the 2019 SEA Games.

Tough luck that in Cayetano’s conflict with Velasco, the “swing king” at the House went to the latter’s favor.

There are 304 House members — 243 from congressional districts, 61 from party-list groups. As gleaned from accounts of the proceedings on Monday, 186 voted to declare the House speakership vacant and then proceeded to elect Velasco as speaker. So, the figures show that Cayetano retained a sizable 118 votes to lean on. This means that Velasco beat him to the post by 68 votes.

Now in the House is a strong, solid coalition of party-list representatives known as the PartyList Coalition Foundation, Inc. (PCFI). It is composed of all the party-list representatives numbering 54, not including the 7 members of the red-tagged so-called Makabayan bloc. If these 54 PCFI members went for Cayetano, he would have had 172 supporters, and with the 54 taken away from Velasco, then Velasco would have ended up with 132 — a loser.

Cayetano would have easily retained the speakership.

Tough luck, indeed, that one week prior to his head- on collision with Velasco, Cayetano arrogantly removed as House deputy speaker the head of the PCFI, 1- Pacman party- list Rep. Michael L. Romero. In doing so, Cayetano in one fell swoop rendered himself a goner in the speakership fight.

After the speakership was declared vacant by the House upon motion by party-list representative Atienza, who should rise to nominate Velasco speaker than the 1-Pacman representative, Romero? Sweet vengeance?

Not really.

I’d rather say, Romero is of a rare mold of lawmaker who would not stoop so low as to be vindictive. It is the principle of the thing that made him cast his lot with Velasco. Certainly, he reflects the general sentiments of the Velasco camp that the people must be made to participate in the process of deciding their fate through their duly elected representatives. Like his colleagues in the Velasco camp, particularly the Fighting 54 of PCFI which he heads, he should stand by this right of the people to participate through their representatives in the deliberations on the budget which after all is meant for their general well-being.

If at all, therefore, Velasco’s ultimate triumph in the speakership fight, reflects Romero’s own victory in his push to get the people’s voice heard in Congress at all times and in all issues.