Duterte has a say on speakership issue — Nograles

MANILA, Philippines — As head of the ruling PDP-Laban, President Duterte has a say on who should be the next speaker of the House of Representatives.

Amid questions of delicadeza, Secretary to the Cabinet Karlo Alexei Nograles yesterday said the President could be vocal about his sentiments on the issue because he heads PDP-Laban.

“The President wears many hats and one… is head of PDP-Laban. It is the ruling party because it has the most number so inevitably, because you are the ruling party, people tend to ask, ano ba ang (what’s the) decision ng ruling party?” said Nograles, who joined PDP-Laban when he ran for Davao representative in 2017.

“So, inevitably people tend to ask what is the decision of the ruling party. And I think that is where the question is. That is why everybody is asking the President what his preference is,” he said.

Nograles refused to comment further when asked on the issue of the speakership bid of presidential son Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, and where the President should draw the line on being a family man, political patriarch and father of the nation. 

“When it comes to family matters, I think we just leave it to members of the family,” he said. 

Asked if Duterte is serious with his threat to resign if Paolo ran for speaker, Nograles noted that the President’s longtime aide and now Sen. Christopher Go has said the President is serious in his statement.

“I think Senator Bong Go spoke about it already. And if you go by the words of Senator Go, him knowing the President the most… the President is serious,” he said.

On having a speaker from the ruling PDP-Laban, Nograles said it is important that the President’s legislative agenda is accomplished regardless of who will head the House of Representatives.

Nograles added that the choice of having a close presidential ally as speaker would have no bearing on any impending plans to impeach the Chief Executive.

“Not necessarily because of the threat of impeachment, like I said it won’t fly. It simply won’t fly… But more importantly, (with a) speaker allied to the President, we could get our legislative agenda to pass,” he said.

Pressed further if Duterte should influence the House leadership on the possibility that it might handle any impeachment complaint against him, Nograles echoed presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo’s statement that any impeachment case won’t prosper. 

“As far as the impeachment case is concerned… I don’t think they have a strong case against the President,” Nograles said.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said this is the first time in Congress’ history in the post-Marcos era that the fight on who will be speaker has dragged on for a long time. 

“This is the first time that it’s a little bit late, and there are just too many candidates,” Salceda said, recalling Congress’ reopening in 1987 after the ouster of the Marcos dictatorship, wherein the choice was more clearcut with lawmakers voting for Speakers Ramon Mitra, Jose de Venecia, Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Pantaleon Alvarez. 

The late Mitra was the first House leader in the post-Marcos era in the late ’80s, De Venecia was at the helm for 15 years until he was ousted and replaced by the late Prospero Nograles in 2008, Belmonte served from 2010 to 2016 while Alvarez’s term was until 2018. 

“For the good of the country, the speakership fight should be over by now so that we can hit the ground running. At least a week before July 22 (when 18th Congress convenes) there has to be party movements already,” the Albay congressman said. 

 “I think the President should speak at this point because there has to be a super majority at the House. It is very important that we mobilize the whole Congress so that we can efficiently and effectively pass the legislative agenda of the President,” Salceda said. 

He said Duterte should anoint his ally as speaker, the same way he did with former speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo whose role was very crucial during the rice crisis and the high inflation rate. 

Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro said the President should make his choice and speak now.

Sen. Koko Pimentel said that the ruling PDP-Laban will opt for a term-sharing deal in the speakership if their partymate Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco will be the first to serve as speaker and later relinquish his post to the next House leader.

Aside from Velasco, the other top contenders include Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez and Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano.  

Velasco has rejected a term-sharing plan Cayetano claimed the two of them had agreed on and was approved by President Duterte during his recent visit to Japan.

According to Cayetano, based on their agreement, he would occupy the post first for 15 months with Velasco holding it for the remaining 21 months.

But on Wednesday night, hours after presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio endorsed Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab as a compromise candidate for speaker, the PDP-Laban, to which Velasco belongs, said Velasco was open to splitting the speaker’s term provided he gets to hold the post first. 

Carpio’s endorsement of Ungab was seen as an attempt to end the bitter speakership quarrel among her father’s allies, which is becoming increasingly embarrassing for the administration.

Stop mudslinging

Meanwhile, Romualdez called on his rivals in the speakership race to stop the mudslinging and focus instead on the need of the current 18th Congress to buckle down to work and help the Duterte administration achieve its legislative agenda. 

“We should not waste precious time in politics and bickerings. We need to hit the ground running in the opening of Congress and help sustain this momentum for economic takeoff,” Romualdez said. 

As per realistic predictions by economic managers, he said GDP is expected to grow by 6.4 percent in 2019 and 2020 while inflation rates are forecast to fall from 3.8 percent in 2019 to 3.5 percent in 2020.

He said it is the duty of the 18th Congress to help sustain the successes of the President’s programs and projects by acting favorably and swiftly on the proposed legislative agenda, which he is expected to outline in his fourth State of the Nation Address on July 22.

Romualdez said that several investors he had talked with expressed confidence about the country’s economic prospects due to the success of the President’s war against crime as well as the breakthrough in his peace efforts in Mindanao.

The already messy speakership race became more muddled yesterday when Rep. Lito Atienza of party-list group Buhay accused certain Cabinet members of pushing for dividing the speaker’s three-year term between two aspirants.

He told ABS-CBN News Channel that President Duterte’s economic managers want Cayetano and Velasco to take turns in leading the House of Representatives, with Cayetano holding the post first.

“They are meddling with us, members of the House. They want to dictate who our speaker will be, instead of us choosing our leader in a free election. It’s selection by negotiation. That is not good for the House, that is not good for democracy,” he said.

The former Manila mayor said the alleged interference is connected to “some financial issues or irregularities” the Cabinet members want lawmakers to resolve or deal with.

It may also be tied to “budgetary insertions” the officials apparently want Cayetano to protect, he said.

Atienza was referring to at least P75 billion in supposed insertions then budget secretary Benjamin Diokno and other colleagues in the Cabinet allegedly made in the 2019 national budget.

Diokno had denied these were insertions, saying the funds were augmentations for infrastructure projects.

Wrangling between him and House members and later between congressmen and senators over budget issues delayed the enactment of this year’s spending program.

President Duterte signed the budget in April after vetoing more than P95 billion in last-minute pork barrel realignments made by the House.

Atienza urged Cabinet members “and other external forces to let us freely determine who our top leader will be.”

He said the alleged meddling would “hurt future relations between the legislative and executive branches.”

The bulk of the realigned funds came from the so-called Diokno augmentations. Since they were vetoed, this means that the appropriations are no longer in this year’s budget.

After the controversy over budgetary insertions died down, the President appointed Diokno as Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor. 

As for the “financial issues” Atienza referred to, Diokno, in a separate interview also on ANC, gave an indication of the reforms the administration’s economic team would ask Congress to work on.

One of these is the easing of the Bank Secrecy Law to give authorities more leeway in checking financial irregularities, the BSP chief said.

A congressman familiar with what Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and his team would push Congress to pass said the economic managers want the early approval of the bill increasing excise taxes on beer and other alcohol products.

“Apparently, they feel that it would be easier for them to work with Alan Peter (Cayetano) than Lord (Velasco). That is the reason why they are proposing that Alan Peter gets to sit as speaker first,” he said.

The Senate failed to pass the alcohol tax increase bill before the last Congress ended its session last month.  – With Delon Porcalla, Jess Diaz