Alvarez on backlash to 'zero budget' threat: Why so serious?

MANILA, Philippines — House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez was only joking when he threatened to cut the budgets of local politicians who would not support the administration's shift to a federal form of government, the leader of the lower house now says.

In an interview on ANC’s "Headstart", Alvarez said that his pronouncements during the oath-taking of Iloilo politicians who switched to PDP-Laban from the moribund Liberal Party were only “empty words.”

Alvarez said that the he was only trying to spice up his speech. "When you make a speech, you should put in a little joke. I don't know why that was taken seriously. I was only joking," the leader of the 296-member House of Representatives, said in Filipino.

He said he cannot make budget decisions by himself since budget proposals need the concurrence of the Senate.

"That wasn't a serious threat. People are quick to react even when they know that I cannot do it,” Alvarez, who has previously argued that he can have more than one wife because he is a Manobo, said. 

READ: Speaker Alvarez: 'Federalism opponents get zero budget'

The Davao del Norte representative earlier said that he would respect the decision of lawmakers who would oppose moves to amend the 1987 Constitution to pave the way for a federal form of government. He said, however, that these lawmakers should also understand if their districts get no funding because of that decision.

Alvarez also assured local residents of Iloilo that they would not get "zero funding" since their political leaders had switched sides en masse.

He made the statement days after the lower house adopted a resolution to convene as a constituent assembly that will draft a new Constitution.

The Senate, however, has insisted that it will not meet with the House as a constituent assembly without assurances that voting would be separate.

READ: Palace distances itself from Alvarez's zero budget threat