Pwersa ng Bayaning Atleta party-list Representative Jericho Nograles voting on whether to accept or reject Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano’s offer to resign is a “waste of legislative time.”
Nograles said he did not join in the proceedings yesterday because he found it “a little absurd.” He added Cayetano also abused his privilege speech.
“There is nothing in our rules that you can offer a resignation. Under our rules, you may resign, and the deputy speakers will decide among themselves who gets to be the acting Speaker until all members of the House are present to elect the new Speaker,” he said in an ANC interview.
He also said the timing of Cayetano’s move to offer his resignation is terrible because the Congress is in the middle of deliberations on the proposed 2021 national budget.
“He (Cayetano) did not resign. It was a waste of legislative time. Yes, we have personal and collective privilege [to speak as members of Congress] before the plenary, but that privilege should not be abused. Why did he charge it to taxpayers’ time?” he added.
Nograles said it is still possible for the House to pass the P4.5 trillion national budget on or before October 14 if Cayetano would not make the same move of discussing the Speakership issue before plenary again.
Nograles: Cayetano offering resignation ‘waste of legislative time’
“We can still do it, provided that we will not be disputed with a silly speech,” Nograles said.
The budget deliberations were suspended until Friday after Cayetano’s speech.
The solon also explained that 189 votes that rejected Cayetano’s resignation do not necessarily mean that many support Cayetano to remain as House Speaker. He said it supports President Rodrigo Duterte’s wish for Cayetano and Lord Allan Velasco to honor their term-sharing agreement, which Duterte brokered.
“That 189 [votes] is a support to the President, the political leader of our super coalition of the administration in Congress,” Nograles said.
“Besides, Speaker Cayetano confirmed that he will honor the agreement. That’s it. Everything else is just fluff,” he added.
Cayetano, in his speech, said “I told the President, I will honor the agreement.”
