Senate President Vicente Sotto III hopes that members of the House of Representatives will get their act together following President Duterte's message on Thursday night.
Sotto lauded Duterte for speaking on the leadership feud in the Lower Chamber which resulted in its abrupt approval of the P4.506-trillion proposed 2021 budget on second reading and suspension of session ahead of the 18th Congress' scheduled recess.
Duterte, in a pre-recorded speech, appealed to House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco to solve their dispute and pass the national budget legally.
"If you do not solve the problem, then I will solve the problem for you. Mamili kayo (You choose)," the President said.
"Well said. I hope the people he was pertaining to will get the message," Sotto said in a message to reporters.
Sotto had said the sudden suspension of session in the House and decision to pass the General Appropriations Bill on November would delay the Senate's deliberation of the priority measure for a month.
Senators raised the possibility of a reenacted budget because of their counterpart's move.
Like Duterte, Sotto earlier today told the House of Representatives not to drag the Senate and the approval 2021 national budget into their mess.
"Puro pulitika, gusto ba ng taong bayan 'yon? Huwag ninyo kaming idamay sa political warfare ninyo, huwag ninyong idamay ang taong bayan (They're all politics, do our people want that? Don't drag us into your political warfare, don't drag our people)," Sotto said in an interview with ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.
Cayetano and Velasco, both allies of Duterte, are fighting over the top seat in the House.