So, this comes to this. By October, Marinduque Congressman Lourd Allan Velasco assumes the speakership of the House of Representatives. This came after Velasco and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano met with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in Malacanan, a meeting purportedly to resolve an escalating leadership issue between the two political allies of the President.

It also came a few days after the Cayetano camp showed a photo of him and his wife Lani all smiling as they met Davao Congressman and presidential son, Paolo “Pulong” Duterte along with Congressman Eric Yap. Cayetano, his wife and his most trusted man House Deputy Secretary General Brian Yamsuan reportedly flew in last Sunday to meet Pulong in his house in Davao City. Yap described the meeting between Cayetano and Duterte as “chillax Sunday.”

A week ago, Duterte sent a Viber message to at least 91 legislators, mostly from Mindanao, and threatened to launch a coup against Cayetano. Duterte’s move came shortly after receiving a complaint from Cong. Arnie Teves that Speaker Cayetano and his allies had maneuvered against the interests of several allies of Velasco. It was at this point that DS Pulong decided to take decisive action against Cayetano.

The supposed coup plan was slated on September 21, but nothing happened. Insiders say it was Congressman Eric Yap who volunteered to “broker talks” between Cayetano and Pulong. And the meeting did push thru.

It was Yap who publicly announced his prediction–99.99% that Cayetano would be retained as House speaker. That highly publicized bravado did Yap in.

What Yap failed to grasp is that the meeting did nothing to appease the animosity being felt by the young Duterte against his father’s political ally. Like Davao mayor Sara Duterte, DS Pulong hates Cayetano’s guts. Insiders say DS continued on discussing the matter not just with his political allies but even to the President himself.

That explains why a meeting was held in Malacanan precisely to communicate the real score between DS and Cayetano. It was too late for Cayetano to back out of the meeting seeing that his hands were tied precisely by the President himself.

Not an astute politician

Cayetano obviously did not see the writing on the wall. First, the statement coming from Sara who is the prospective presidential bet of the Duterte group within PDP-Laban by 2022. Sara revealed that Cayetano sought for her support but left leaving a threat– support him or the complexion of the 2022 elections would change. It was obviously an empty threat but Sara took that as a veiled threat from Speaker Cayetano.

DS Pulong meanwhile, is very close to Lourd Velasco. The Velasco family is a long-time personal friend of the Dutertes. Their ties go way back during the time of former Supreme Court associate justice Presbyterio Velasco.

While Cayetano enjoys majority support, and that means having Arroyo’s block and the partylist coalition behind him, most PDP-Laban stalwarts hate his guts. For them, Cayetano is not just an outsider– he is a manipulative politician. His record as a political butterfly brands him as an unworthy ally.

How would this pan out in the next few weeks? This latest agreement does not coincide with the previous gentleman’s agreement entered into by Cayetano and Velasco. Cayetano is supposed to finish his end of the bargain by November and yet, both camps now agree that Cayetano must vacate his speakership post by October 14.

This is getting very interesting.