Gentleman’s agreement ‘yan: Velasco confident term-sharing deal with Cayetano will proceed

By JOHN CARLO M. CAHINHINAN

House Energy committee chair Lord Allan Velasco (Marinduque) said he remains confident that his term-sharing agreement between Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano for the House leadership will proceed as planned.

“Honestly, sa akin, alam ko tuloy pa rin. An agreement is an agreement. A gentlemen’s agreement is a gentlemen’s agreement,” said Velasco in an ambush interview on Monday.

Velasco’s remarks came after the National Unity Party (NUP) and other congressmen close to Cayetano claimed that the term-sharing deal may not push through given the high trust and approval ratings gained by the former Foreign Affairs secretary during the recent survey released by Social Weather Station (SWS) and Pulse Asia.

Velasco said he was optimistic that Cayetano and his allies will abide by the decision made by President Rodrigo Duterte on the term sharing agreement that sought to break the stalemate in in hotly-contested Speakership race last July.

“Based on the gentlemen’s agreement, I will see you next year as the next Speaker of the House,” he said.

He added that there will be indeed an election of new Speaker once Cayetano steps down in September 2020.

“Of course (election), we cannot go through (term-sharing) unless we go to voting,” he said.

Velasco stressed that he will just focus on his work at the House energy panel, since there are many matters that must be addressed.

“I really don’t want to comment talaga. It’s still so early. It’s already November. Next year pa naman ‘to—October. So right now we are just focus on our work here, especially me, being the Energy chairman again,” he said.

“Just focusing lang po passing laws na I believed, makakatulong po na makababa kuryente sa ating mga kababayan,” he added.