LAWMAKERS LABEL CAYETANO’S MOVE AS “AUTHORITARIAN AND PROHIBITED”

Two members of the House Representatives have criticized Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano for what they have called “consistent authoritarian leadership, to the extent of breaking the rules of the House of Representatives”. The lawmakers further claimed that Cayetano behavior indicates a “selfish desire to stay in power.”

Cebu City 2nd District Rep. Rodrigo “Bebot” Abellanosa said Cayetano has once again displayed his “autocratic style of management” when he and his handful of allies unilaterally terminated the budget deliberations, approved the spending plan on second reading despite pending issues, and suspended the plenary session until Nov. 16.

“While Speaker Cayetano and his close allies are wallowing in tens of billions of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) allocations for their districts, the two districts of Cebu City, which contributed substantially to the national coffers, are afforded only a measly fraction of a billion each. This is a big insult and affront to the people of Cebu City,” Abellanosa lamented.

“Some lawmakers were asking about the huge budget allocated to Speaker Cayetano and his close allies, but instead of answering, the Speaker decided to railroad the budget, compose a group of his friends to amend it, and suspend session to have an early break and to hold on to power,” he added.

Cayetano, in terminating the budget deliberations, cited Section 55, Rule 10 of the Rules of the House of Representatives, but Abellanosa said the Speaker himself violated such rule.

Section 55 provides that “a motion to close debate on a measure shall be in order after three speeches in favor and two against, or after only one speech in favor and none against: provided, that within the last 15 days before adjournment, a motion to close debate on a measure shall be in order after two speeches in favor and one against, or after only one speech in favor and none against.”

“Obviously, none of these was followed,” Abellanosa said.

1-PACMAN Party-list Rep. Eric Pineda said a great majority of House members are unhappy with how Cayetano and his allies conducted the budget deliberations resulting to its abrupt passage. He also pointed the irregular manner how the proposed 2021 national budget was approved without completing the deliberations for all government agencies.

“It was irregular to pass the budget without it being heard completely.  Even the Speaker stated in his speech that we cannot pass the budget as proposed. However, because of the latter’s unilateral actions and with the help of his close allies, the other members of Congress have been robbed of the chance to scrutinize the proposed national budget,” Pineda pointed out.

Pineda also noted that while legislators have asked that they be allowed to personally attend the plenary session, the House leadership limited the attendees to only 25 people of their own choosing.

He also cited the actions of the House leadership on Sept. 30 when Cayetano offered to resign, but the same was supposedly rejected by 184 members. “No official list of the voting results was released, which casts doubt on the actual numbers,” Pineda concluded.