Velasco says Mayor Sara Duterte’s influence a ‘big push’ for House Speaker election

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco on Monday acknowledged that the endorsement of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte helped him get elected to the position against former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.

Interviewed on GMA News’ Unang Balita, Velasco made the statement when asked about lawmakers saying that some House members switched their support for him because of Mayor Sara, daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Sa tingin ko malaking tulong din po talaga si Mayor Sara Duterte. Alam naman po natin ang impluwensiya na meron po si Ma'am Sara,” Velasco said.

“And I think that was a big push dito po sa pag-upo natin bilang Speaker po ng House,’ he added.

In a separate interview with ANC, Velasco admitted that his dinner with Mayor Duterte days before his election was meant to ask for the endorsement of her party Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) to his speakership.

"I believe that Mayor Inday Sara really has a lot of influence not only in Congress but in a lot of areas also," he said.

"With the party of HNP joining or endorsing my speakership, definitely I believe it was a tipping point," he added.

Mayor Duterte earlier said she and HNP backed the enforcement of the speakership term-sharing deal between Velasco and Cayetano.

She confirmed that she met with Velasco on October 9 to discuss the HNP.

“HNP will respect the term-sharing agreement as ordered by the President last year and reiterated that the party fully supports Presidential Proclamation 1027,” she said, referring to her father’s call for a special session of the House of Representatives to tackle and finish the deliberations on the proposed 2021 national budget.

Velasco, in the ANC interview, said he will also support Mayor Duterte if ever she runs for President, adding that he has asked her to run a "million times already."

"Definitely [I will support her], 100%," he said.

Allies

Meanwhile, asked about the allies of Cayetano who shifted their support for him, Velasco noted that he already has the support of 95% of the members of the House of Representatives.

“As of today, ‘yung supermajority po natin ay nasa 286 na miyembro na. That comprises already 95% of the members of the House,” he said in the Unang Balita interview.

Velasco also brushed off a supposed coup in the House against him after a week of being a speaker, as warned by Cayetano.

“Sa tingin hindi ko po hindi po mangyayari 'yung kudeta,” he said.

“Kung meron mang kudeta, kasi naka-break kami hanggang Novemnber 16, so kung may binabalak siyang kudeta baka sa November 16 pa po ‘yun,” he added.

Velasco succeeded Cayetano after 186 lawmakers ratified his election on October 13, hours before the start of the four-day special session called by Duterte for the House of Representatives to deliberate the proposed 2021 national budget.

President Duterte brokered the term-sharing deal between Cayetano and Velasco in 2019. Under the agreement, Cayetano will sit as Speaker for the first 15 months, then Velasco will take over the next 21 months in the 18th Congress.

Tension between the Cayetano and Velasco camps was sparked last month after Negros Oriental 3rd District Representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. pointed out the supposedly bigger allocations for infrastructure projects in the districts of Cayetano and Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte.

This triggered a new wave of the speakership talks at the House.

Cayetano offered to resign on Sept. 30, but this was promptly rejected by House members in attendance that day.

On Oct. 13, House members met outside the Batasang Pambansa to elect Velasco as the new Speaker.

Following the Oct. 14 ratification of Velasco's election, Cayetano announced that he was tendering his "irrevocable" resignation from the speakership. —KG, GMA News