Good working relations between Senate, House seen: Sotto

FILE: Senate President Vicente Tito Sotto tells reporters during the Kapihan sa Senado Thursday, May 16, 2019, that technical glitches in the just-concluded poll exercise comprise only a small percentage and believes that the election results were credible. (Photo: Senate of the Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA — Senate President Vicente Sotto III is seeing smooth working relations with the House of Representatives under the leadership of Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano for the 18th Congress.

“Absolutely. Second time in history that a Senator becomes Speaker of the House. He knows us, we know him and I do not mean that literally only,” Sotto told reporters on Tuesday when asked if he is expecting a good relationship between both chambers of Congress if Cayetano assumes the top House post.

The first senator to become House Speaker was former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Duterte earlier announced his endorsement for Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco as the next speakers of the House of Representatives under a term-sharing agreement.

Cayetano will serve as Speaker in the first 15 months, and Velasco will be the Speaker during the next 21 months.

He said Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, also a House Speaker bet, would be the next Majority Leader in the lower chamber.

He said Cayetano, who was his running mate in the 2016 national elections, expressed his desire to be House Speaker during the mid-term polls.

“I have been very clear on that na during the campaign, sabi niya kung manalo siya, gusto niya mag-Speaker (If he wins, he wants to be a Speaker). He was the first one at least to intimate to me that — nagpasa na gusto (expressed his desire),” Duterte said.