MANILA, Philippines — House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said he is only joking when he threatened to give zero budget to local politicians who would oppose the government’s plan of shifting to a federal form of government.
In an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel’s Headstart, Alvarez said that his statements during the oathtaking ceremony of Iloilo politicians who jumped to the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) from Liberal Party that he would cut their budget if they would not back the proposed federalism shift mean nothing but “empty words.”
“If you make a speech, you need to put a little of a joke. That’s the thing. I don’t know why they took it seriously. I am only joking,” Alvarez said in Filipino.
“You know, it was only being misinterpreted by some. If those words really mean nothing or empty words, it is only a joke. Right?” Alvarez added.
The speaker also said he can’t do the budget cut alone because budget proposal passes through the Senate.
“People keep on reacting even when they know I can’t do it because the budget passes through the Senate. Those are empty words actually. Empty words because I know I can’t decide alone,” he said.
Earlier, Alvarez said he would respect the decision of representatives who would not support the efforts to amend the 1987 Constitution to pave way for the government’s shift to federalism, threatening, however, that their provinces would get zero funding because of their decision.
Alvarez, however, assured the locals of Iloilo that they would not get “zero budget” since the majority of their political leaders already switched to PDP-Laban.
“I am thankful that they already jumped to our party and that their representatives joined the majority so they will not get zero budget,” he said.
Alvarez made the statements days after the lower chamber adopted a resolution to convene as a constituent assembly that will draft a new Constitution.
However, the Senate maintained that it will not meet with the House as a constituent assembly without the guarantee of separate voting.
Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque has distanced Malacañang from Alvarez’s pronouncements, saying the executive branch would not meddle with the deliberations of the Congress on the charter change because of the separation of powers.