{"id":235497,"date":"2019-10-22T20:27:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T00:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=235497"},"modified":"2019-10-22T20:27:55","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T00:27:55","slug":"solons-weigh-in-on-term-sharing-at-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/10\/22\/solons-weigh-in-on-term-sharing-at-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Solons weigh in on term-sharing at House"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
In a news forum, Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Michael Defensor said the House is doing “very well” under the leadership of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, Majority Leader Martin Romualdez and the chairpersons of the critical House panels. (File Photo<\/a>: House of Representatives of the Philippines\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Two ranking House members on Tuesday expressed their personal views on the term-sharing agreement brokered by President Rodrigo Duterte for the Speakership, with one saying the continuity of the current leadership is for the best interest of the country while the other saying fresh elections are needed to determine the issue.<\/p>\n

In a news forum, Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Michael Defensor said the House is doing “very well” under the leadership of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, Majority Leader Martin Romualdez and the chairpersons of the critical House panels.<\/p>\n

\u201cNapakaganda ng takbo ng Kongreso<\/em>\u00a0(Congress is running well). So why would we change the direction and track of Congress and our country when we are doing very well?\u201d Defensor said.<\/p>\n

The chair of the House Committee on Public Accounts said there is always the distinct possibility that the laws being heard in Congress – including President Duterte\u2019s legislative agenda – would be caught in the confusion that always ensues during a leadership change.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, politics is politics. When you have a change of leadership, there will be changes along the way, including the other committees. Adjustment\u00a0na naman<\/em>\u00a0(There will be adjustments again),\u201d Defensor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the best interest of the country, the best interest of Congress, we should continue with the leadership of Speaker Cayetano and the rest of the leadership of the House,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Defensor said he is only expressing his point of view, and he has nothing personal against the other candidates vying for the Speakership.<\/p>\n

He added that while he never campaigned for Cayetano before the term-sharing agreement, finishing President Duterte’s legislative agenda is of utmost importance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is my point of view. I have nothing personal against the other colleagues in the House.\u00a0Ako, para lang sa<\/em>\u00a0interest\u00a0ng bansa<\/em>\u00a0(For me, it is only for the interest of the nation). The President has only three years and we still need to finish his legislative agenda. All of these would take a lot of work and a lot of time,\u201d Defensor said.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, ACT-CIS Rep. Eric Go Yap said if ever there will be changes in the House leadership, elections should determine who will be Speaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng<\/em>\u00a0stand\u00a0namin dito ay kung magkakaroon ng sinasabing<\/em>\u00a0term-sharing,\u00a0magkakaroon ng<\/em>\u00a0election\u00a0siguro para sa<\/em>\u00a0Speakership (if there will be term-sharing, there should be elections for the Speakership),\u201d he said in the same news forum.<\/p>\n

“Kung sino ang maboboto ng<\/em>\u00a0majority,\u00a0sya yung magiging<\/em>\u00a0next Speaker\u00a0natin<\/em>\u00a0(Whoever is elected by the majority, he will be our next Speaker),” Yap added.<\/p>\n

The chair of the House Committee on Games and Amusements pointed out that elections are needed because there was no signed agreement on term-sharing, and the agreement was only a verbal agreement among the concerned parties.<\/p>\n

He also noted that when they voted last July for the Speakership, they were never consulted on the issue of term-sharing.<\/p>\n

The lawmaker said it should be the House members who will decide on who will be their Speaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cSa akin naman kasi nasa<\/em>\u00a0members\u00a0yan. Kung yung iba gusto nila ng<\/em>\u00a0election,\u00a0kung gusto niila pumili ng<\/em>\u00a0Speaker,\u00a0nasa sa kanila iyon. Basta ako, isang boto lang naman ako.<\/em>\u00a0So\u00a0kung ano ang mapagkasunduan ng<\/em>\u00a0majority,\u00a0susunod naman tayo<\/em>\u00a0(For me. It\u2019s up to the members. If the others want an election and choose a Speaker, it\u2019s up to them. I am only one vote. Whatever is agreed upon by the majority, I will obey),\u201d Yap said.<\/p>\n

President Duterte brokered the term-sharing agreement between Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco in the run-up to the Speakership election on July 22.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, Cayetano would hold the post for 15 months, or up to October next year, after which Velasco takes over.<\/p>\n

In the same agreement, Romualdez, who was also a strong contender for the Speakership, will be the House Majority Leader of the 18th Congress for three years.<\/p>\n

The possibility of the term-sharing agreement being scuttled was first brought out by Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga following Cayetano\u2019s 64-percent and 62-percent approval and trust ratings in the Pulse Asia survey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Speaker Cayetano sustains his good performance as shown by his high trust and approval ratings in the latest Pulse Asia quarterly report, there would be a groundswell among House members and the public for him to stay on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sure he will sustain that performance. There is no reason for him not to. So why change or swap horses in midstream? We might as well retain him as our Speaker for three years until June 30, 2022,\u201d Barzaga said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Two ranking House members on Tuesday expressed their personal views on the term-sharing agreement brokered by President Rodrigo Duterte …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":228728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-jose-cielito-reganit","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235497"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235498,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235497\/revisions\/235498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}