MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte warned members of the House of Representatives to immediately resolve the budget impasse or else he will take matters into his own hands.
“Gusto ko lang sabihin in one straight statement: Either you resolve the issue sa impasse ninyo diyan and pass the budget legally and constitutionally, kapag hindi ninyo ginawa, ako ang gagawa para sa inyo,” Duterte said in a taped speech aired Thursday evening.
“Hindi ako nananakot. Wala akong ambisyong manakot. Wala din akong ambisyong magtagal sa pwestong pu**** ****g ito na puro problema. Wala akong hangarin.”
“Basta sinasabi ko lang, if you do not solve the problem, Then I will solve the problem for you. Mamili kayo, either we have positive development na maligayahan ang tao, ‘yung amo natin,” he added.
The President did not elaborate on what course of action he will take should Congress fail to legislate the 2021 national budget on time. But he unleashed those remarks while military and police officials surround him.
The House leadership had earlier vowed to pass the General Appropriations Bill (House Bill No. 7727), which contains the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021, by October 14, or few days before it was supposed to go on a month-long recess based on the legislative calendar of the 18th Congress.
But on Tuesday, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and his allies suddenly suspended the House session until November 16 following the unexpected second-reading approval of the GAB.
With the lower legislative body suspending its session until November 16 and the spending bill approved only on second reading, the budget measure will not reach the Senate before it goes on a break on October 17.
The spectacle at the House of Representatives stemmed from a power struggle between Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, who agreed to a speakership term-sharing agreement brokered by Duterte in 2019.
Under the gentleman’s deal, Cayetano should serve as Speaker for the first 15 months and then Velasco succeeds him to serve as Speaker for the remaining 21 months of the 18th Congress. Velasco was supposed to take over as Speaker by October 14.