Davao City First District Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte has decided not to pursue his plan to run for speaker of the House of Representatives, saying he would support the candidate endorsed by the party headed by his sister, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
“I have personally spoken to President Rodrigo Duterte Thursday night in Davao City regarding my plan to run for speaker of the House of Representatives. We both agreed that this will not be the right time for me to be speaker and I can still help his administration from the House in a different capacity,” the neophyte lawmaker said in a statement issued yesterday.
“As president of Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, I will support the bid for speakership of Congressman Isidro Ungab, from our sister party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HnP),” he added.
Ungab represents the Third District of Davao City.
“The president has also been fully informed of Rep. Ungab’s participation in the race for the next speaker of the House of Representatives,” the younger Duterte said.
Last week, HnP announced it would endorse Ungab for the House’s top post.
It said Ungab “is the only lawmaker to hold the chairmanships of both ways and means and appropriations committees.”
“We understand if President Duterte, because of delicadeza, will not accept the intent of our brother from Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod Congressman Paolo Duterte to resolve the conflict among candidates,” Hugpong said.
It proposed that the other contenders for the post accept other positions instead.
Last week, Paolo said he might join the speakership race to unite a divided House.
The other aspirants for House speaker are Leyte First District Rep. Martin Romualdez, Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco and Taguig City-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano.
For Buhay party-list Rep. Jose “Lito” Atienza Jr, the emergence of several contenders for the top House post was a good thing.
“The speakership race is noisy and that’s good. I look at that positively because then we can select which of them has the better character,” Atienza said in a forum yesterday at Annabel’s Restaurant in Quezon City.
He warned several Cabinet officials to stop their alleged meddling in the selection of the House speaker. “Do not meddle with the problem of choosing a speaker. That’s none of your business,” he said.
Atienza said an informant mentioned several alleged meddlers, among them Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd and Public Works Secretary Mark Villar.
Dominguez had said the Department of Finance does not interfere with the Legislative Branch’s internal affairs. The Department of Transportation had also denied Tugade’s alleged meddling.
“They were convincing the president on siding with Congressman Cayetano because in their term-sharing they called 15-21 formula, Cayetano would be at the post for 15 months and Velasco would have 21 months,” Atienza said.
“That is not acceptable to congressmen because we know that it is not going to be good for the institution, it will only be a continuing destruction to our concentrated effort to make quality laws for the people. And there would be dislocation again after 15 months. So, what would be the benefits from it except for those who would benefit from the term sharing?,” he added.
Surigao del Sur Second District Rep. Johnny Pimentel had said Velasco and Cayetano did not enter into any term-sharing deal.
“There was no formal meeting between Lord Velasco and Congressman Cayetano. They did not talk. They did not sit down. There was never any deal or talk between the two of them whatsoever,” he said.