(Bloomberg) -- President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies at the House of Representatives splintered on Monday, with majority electing a new speaker while the Philippines’ 4.5 trillion-peso ($93 billion) budget aimed to aid economic recovery remains pending in Congress.
Congressman Lord Allan Velasco was declared the new speaker after getting the votes of 186 of the 299 sitting House members, according to televised proceedings held outside the chamber’s building. Congressman Alan Peter Cayetano, who Velasco is seeking to replace, said the proceedings violated rules and told his challenger’s camp to prove his numbers at tomorrow’s special session called by Duterte to tackle the budget bill.
Duterte wants lawmakers to prioritize the approval of next year’s budget and won’t meddle in the House leadership issue, spokesman Harry Roque said at a televised briefing Monday. The President is “not taking sides at this point and just wants his budget against Covid-19 passed,” Roque added.
Both Velasco and Cayetano have said that they will pass the budget on time, even as the fight for the speakership risks delaying its approval. Economic managers are banking on the 2021 budget to aid the recovery of the economy that they forecast to shrink as much as 6.6% this year. A similar delay in last year’s budget limited government spending and weighed on economic growth.
Cayetano on Oct. 6 suspended sessions at the House or a week earlier than scheduled amid a challenge to his leadership. The contenders for the speakership entered into a term-sharing agreement in July 2019, under which Cayetano will serve as head of the chamber for the first 15 months until October this year and will later be replaced by Velasco for the next 21 months.
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