Duterte allies battle over Philippine House speaker role, threatening coronavirus budget and ruling coalition

Members of the Philippines’ House of Representatives voted to replace Alan Peter Cayetano with Lord Allan Velasco, a member of the ruling PDP-Laban Party

Cayetano has refused to relinquish his position, leading to a political showdown and setting up a possible power struggle in the lead-up to 2022’s elections

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Representative Lord Allan Velasco, right, is sworn in as the new House speaker at the Celebrity Sports Plaza in suburban Manila. Photo: AP

Published: 11:00pm, 12 Oct 2020Updated: 2:54am, 13 Oct 2020

The Philippine Congress reconvenes on Tuesday with two of President Rodrigo Duterte’s closest political allies claiming to be the speaker of the House of Representatives in a power struggle that could further delay passage of the 4.5 trillion peso (US$92.7 billion) General Appropriations Bill to combat the coronavirus pandemic and which threatens to split Duterte’s ruling coalition.

On Monday, allies of Representative Lord Allan Velasco met at a members-only sports club in suburban Manila and overwhelmingly voted to oust the sitting speaker, Alan Peter Cayetano, secretary general of the Nacionalista Party, which is part of the coalition government, and replace him with Velasco, a member of Duterte’s ruling PDP-Laban Party.

The votes by 186 of the 305 members of the House of Representatives were cast in person and via Zoom and beamed live by the Malacanang Palace-controlled RTVM television station.

Even as most of the country’s representatives were voting to unseat him, Cayetano held a press conference inside the House session hall – sent out over Facebook live – and lashed out at the “fake session” going on at Celebrity Sports Plaza.

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano (top right) applauds as President Rodrigo Duterte delivers his State of the Nation Address in July. Photo: AP

“The last time I checked, Celebrity Sports Plaza is not Congress,” Cayetano said. “It creates a very, very disturbing precedent.”

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