Duterte son open to speaker’s post

Rody may not quit if Paolo gets post

MANILA, Philippines —  Against the advice of his father the President, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte has threatened to join the speakership race “to help unite” the House of Representatives.

“The House is divided. I might be able to unite it. We were all elected by the people. If it is term-sharing they want, we (aspirants for speaker) should all share it,” Paolo said in a statement posted yesterday on the Hugpong ng Pagbabago Viber thread.

The statement was posted by Jeffrey Tupas, information officer of the city government of Davao.

Paolo ran under Hugpong, a regional party founded by his sister and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.

The statement further quoted him as saying: “I will ask the Visayas bloc to elect their speaker for their term share, and so with the Mindanao bloc and the Party-list Coalition.”

“We are not talking about two persons here. We are talking about our beloved country. It is not about speakership alone, but who is the right person to unite Congress. I hope those running for the speakership stop influencing the Cabinet,” he added.

President Duterte may still change his mind regarding his threat to resign if Paolo joins the race for speaker, Malacañang said yesterday.?Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said Paolo merely announced a plan to run for the House leadership. ?“The President may change his mind. Congressman Paolo Duterte may also change his mind. So let’s see. Let it evolve,” Panelo said at a press briefing. ?Asked if it is possible that Duterte will support his son’s bid to become House speaker, Panelo replied: “Let’s ask the President so there won’t be speculations. We are just speculating.”?Panelo said Paolo could not be prevented from joining the speakership race. ?“It’s between the father and the son. That’s a different story. But as a general principle, if you are qualified to run, then you can run,” he added.

A veteran lawmaker said that based on the tone of Paolo’s statement, his threat was made “apparently more out of frustration over the way administration allies aspiring for the speakership are quarreling, than an expression of a genuine intention to seek the job.”

On Sunday, in his first statement on the speakership fight posted on the Hugpong thread, Paolo appealed to those aspiring to be speaker to not use his name.

“We are friends, but our friendship has limitations. It’s not a license for you to use my name to attack your rival, disrespect his wife or his family… exclude me from your dirty politics,” he said in Filipino.

Paolo issued the statement after Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano said that he and the wife of Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco had agreed that he and Velasco would share the three-year term of the speaker.

In a related development, Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. of Ako Bicol Party-list yesterday said the 54-member Party-List Coalition has narrowed down its choices for speaker between Velasco and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez.

“The two have accepted our proposal that the next leadership should allot 20 percent of the House committee positions and assignments to party-list representatives because we comprise 20 percent of the membership,” Garbin said.

Jump ship

Meanwhile, Rep. Aurelio Gonzales, executive vice president of PDP-Laban, has hinted that officials and members of the ruling party would shift their support to Paolo once the latter joins the speakership race. 

“Once he seeks the speakership, all of us who are supporting Cong. Velasco will transfer our support to Cong. Polong,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales admitted that Paolo’s plan to join the House race is not sanctioned by his father. 

A faction of the PDP-Laban in the House has endorsed Velasco, but Gonzales expressed belief they could still muster about 200 votes in Paolo’s favor should the presidential son seek the speakership. 

“There are more or less 200 of us here and the number will rise because Cong. Duterte will be the speaker,” Gonzales said.

“I am speaking for myself and for the whole group that no one will oppose him,” he added. – With Delon Porcalla, Alexis Romero