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IHURSDAY, JULY18,20I' xcouP rRon4,'At

No House coup on
No House
SONA day - lawmakers
coup on President Rodrigo Duterte that

SONA day the Taguig lawrn,aker will share

term with Maiind.uque Rep. Lord

- lawmakers
Allan Velasco.
"l don't think there will be a
coup. I think evt:ryone respects
nfi -
SOME lawmakers erPressed co the pronounceme:nt of the Presi-
dence that no couP will be mounted dent and as we [hilvebeen talking
on
at the House of RePresentatives since] last week, the [congress-
Alan
Molddv to Prevent TaguiS ReP men] have been lfrxing the orga-
the
Peter iayetano from assuming nization ofthe Housg," Pefensor
oosr of sPeaker' said in an int€rvi€w with ANC.
Mr-
Anakalusugan PdnY-list ReP Thete are no rnote surprises
chael 'r4ile" Defensor on wednesddy
expected to break the deal on
s;id rhere would be no couP d etat speakership on ir4onalay when
to challenge Cayelano ds lawmakers the 18th Congr:ess formally
i"* u".J,"a rie announcement of opens, the same 'day that Presi-
Albay Rep.Joey Sal(eda
F{ouPA2 dent Roddgo Dut(:rte will deliver you have no choice but to move
his fourth State of the Nation faster," he said.
Address (SOgA)l^.4 lawmaker After Dutefie brokered a term-
said also on Wedinesday. sharing deal between Cayetano and
Albay Rep. Ioey Salceda dgreed. Velasco, Romualdez, lq,'te's First
"l can tell you, at the mte we're Distdct representative was pushed
working together there is defi- to take the majority leadenhip post.
nitely no chanc-e that those ar- Davao City Rep. Paolo Dutefte
rangementswill not materializd said ldst week that one of the
on Monday," he t(td reporten at speaker aspirants might be plot-
a news forum. ting a coup on fuly 22.
'We will have a speaker, he's Defensor also previously bared
called Alan Peter Cayateno. We a "text message" that suppos-
will have a Majorrity Leader and edly came ftom Davao City Mayor
his name is Manin Romualdez," Sara Duterte-Carpio urging other
Salceda said. congressmen to reiect the Taguig
In a small gathe:ring with some Iawmaker as speaker. :

80 first-term congressmen on Defensor later said the text

Tuesday evening, Cayetano as-
sured his colleagues that he was
sincere in folloruing Duterte's
'15-21" formula, ,where he would
sit as speaker for 15 months and
Velasco for 21 mo nths.
"The burden of having only 15
months is how miuch can you do
in just 15 months? But the bless-
ing is that it's like rrinasaksakan ka
message did not come ftom the
Davao mayor but was shared by
other lawmakers.
Paolo and his sister Sara had
earlierformed a so-called Duterte
Coalition backiirg Davao City Rep.
Isidro Ungab as'speaker
The President had dismissed the
coup rumors, saying it would be
"wishful thinking." 1

ng adrenaline (yorlre taking a shot GLEE JALEA AND

of adrenaline) every morning that JOSHUA VERA CRUZ

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