President Duterte became the "great disruptor" to centuries of buddy system between the country's leaders and the so-called oligarchy, according to House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.
"Almost from the time of our independence, the fate of Philippine presidents have been tragically intertwined with either their colonial masters, or in their partnerships with the oligarchy," Cayetano wrote on a lengthy Facebook post Sunday night.
"Which is why the election of an outsider like Mayor Duterte has caused so much disruption and anguish among this ‘privileged class.’ For the first time in centuries, their phone calls to the Palace are not being answered, or if they are, it is met with an unfamiliar, heavily-accented, and uncompromising voice," he said.
Cayetano offered this take roughly a week after the House Committee on Legislative Franchises voted against renewing the broadcast franchise of the Lopez-owned ABS-CBN.
Duterte had earlier said that even without declaring martial law, he "dismantled the oligarchy that controlled the economy of the Filipino people."
"The history of the Philippines is replete with cautionary tales of how our patrimony and wealth have been plundered by big business and the oligarchy in combination with the political elite. Of how government officials, acting on orders from their corporate patrons, craft or tear down laws for the sake of the profit," Cayetano said.
The Speaker then took a shot at some of ABS-CBN's defenders by saying that all they want is to keep the status quo.
"Now, in connection with my recent statements on ABS-CBN and how it relates to the dismantling of the oligarchy in the Philippines, it seems to have struck a raw nerve among people - some of whom are close friends of mine - causing them to shift from the faulty narrative of ‘defending press freedom’ to the real issue of how they can maintain the status quo by redefining the oligarchic system in the Philippines," he said.
"Despite the ad hominem attacks on me and my family, I still view this is as a welcome development because it now properly frames the context on which the Duterte-Cayetano 2016 promises were made, and - most recently - of the decision of Congress regarding the family-owned ABS-CBN franchise," he said.
Cayetano, a former multi-term senator, served as then-Davao City Mayor Duterte's running mate during the 2016 national polls. The charismatic and tough-talking Duterte won overwhelmingly in the presidential race.
Although Cayetano lost to Leni Robredo in the vice presidential race, he would assume the Speakership, the fourth most powerful position in the country, three years later.