(UPDATED) With 186 affirmative votes, the House of Representatives on Tuesday, October 13, 2020, ratified the election of Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco as the new Speaker.
Nominal voting was conducted before 12 noon Tuesday, shortly after Velasco and his allies arrived at the plenary hall and opened the session.
In a Facebook live video posted while Velasco was delivering his acceptance speech, Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano verbally tendered his “irrevocable resignation” as Speaker.
However, he still refused to acknowledge Velasco’s election during the proceedings at the Celebrity Sports Plaza on Monday and asked his colleagues to respect the 3 p.m. schedule for the special session by electing the new Speaker by then.
“Ang pakiusap ko sa mga kasama ko, 3 o’clock ang notice ng session. At 3 o’clock, elect your new Speaker and pass the budget (Since the session has been scheduled for 3 p.m., my appeal to my colleagues is to elect the new Speaker at 3 p.m. and pass the budget),” he said.
At the House plenary hall, acting Majority Leader Juan Pablo Bondoc said the number of House members who sent in their votes via electronic means exceeded 200.
He said some of the votes were not recorded during Monday's session due to technical problems.
“We have more than 200 congressmen, almost a pure majority, that wished to ratify you (Velasco) in person today in this hall, except that with the problems of Covid and the restrictions on travel, with the difficulty establishing internet connection, these votes are also part of the new majority that you now lead,” he said.
Earlier Tuesday, Malacañang confirmed that President Rodrigo Duterte called Velasco and Cayetano to a meeting on the speakership row.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the meeting was set for 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Malago Clubhouse and will focus on the passage of the 2021 budget.
This would be the third time, as reported, that Duterte called the two congressmen over the speakership, first in July 2019 and second on September 29, 2020.
Cayetano had refused to acknowledge the election of Velasco as Speaker, describing Monday’s proceedings in the Celebrity Sports Plaza as a “fake session”.
Cayetano had served as Speaker since he was elected in July 2019, after Duterte brokered a term-sharing agreement on the speakership.
As agreed, Cayetano will serve as Speaker in the first 15 months until October 2020 and Velasco will take over for the remaining 21 months of the 18th Congress.
Velasco was elected Monday by 186, or more than 60 percent of the, members of the House in a session held outside the Batasang Pambansa while the House was still on a break. There are a total of 305 members of the House as listed on the lower chamber’s official website.
The House prematurely suspended session on October 6, after terminating debates on the budget and passing the General Appropriations Bill on second reading amid the heated speakership row between Cayetano and Velasco.
The suspension occurred 11 days before the approved legislative break from October 17 to November 15. Session is scheduled to resume on November 16.
President Rodrigo Duterte, however, issued Proclamation 1027, calling the House to a special session to avoid any further delays in the approval of the 2021 budget. (Marites Villamor-Ilano/SunStar Philippines)