THE motion to reject House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano's offer to resign was "a waste of time" and merely delayed the approval of the 2021 budget bill, Puwersa ng Bayang Atleta (PBA) Party-list Representative Jericho Nograles said on Thursday, October 1, 2020.
According to Nograles, the House's decision to vote on Cayetano's offer to resign has no effect because it is not written in the House of Representatives rules.
Nograles said he walked out when the motion was made.
"When the voting already started, when the motion was placed and it started, I just decided to walk out of the hall. It's something that I cannot, in good conscience, participate and charge it to taxpayers' time. This was a waste of legislative time," Nograles
"The effect of that is nothing in our rules. Walang katuturan, ibig sabihin, yung whole thing na nangyari kahapon. The only effect of what happened is the suspension of the deliberation on the 2021 budget," he said.
Nograles said there is a difference between offering to resign and actually resigning.
He said he found it absurd to vote on an offer to resign.
Cayetano on Wednesday, September 30, offered to resign after confirming that he agreed to step down on October 14 to honor the term-sharing deal that he forged with Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco.
His offer to resign was turned by Rep. Michael Defensor into a motion, prompting the House to vote.
With votes of 184-1 and nine abstentions, the House rejected Cayetano's offer to resign.
Under the term-sharing deal brokered by President Rodrigo Duterte in July 2019, Cayetano has until September 30, 2020 to serve as Speaker.
Velasco is supposed to take over for the rest of the 18th Congress.
In his privilege speech during the plenary session on September 30, Cayetano confirmed that he agreed to resign on October 14.
But he also said he could not guarantee that Velasco would get the votes necessary to install him as Speaker.
If Velasco wins, Cayetano said members of the House will just mount a coup d'etat and oust him.
Velasco, for his part, accused Cayetano of holding the 2021 budget bill hostage through his "political maneuverings and theatrics".
Deliberations on the budget were suspended Wednesday to give way to Cayetano's privilege speech. (Jove Moya/SunStar Philippines)