"Bagong taon na, tigilan na ang pagiging bitter (It's the New Year, stop being bitter)."
This was Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza's unsolicited piece of advice Sunday to former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, who a few days ago accused the current House leadership of blocking the supposed plan of Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Mike Defensor and Bulacan Rep. Jose Antonio Sy-Alvarado to probe corruption allegations against some of their fellow congressmen.
“That’s fake news,” said Atienza, who last month was among those elevated to the deputy speakers' post by Cayetano's successor, Speaker Lord Allan Velasco of Marinduque.
“Cayetano has an ax to grind against Speaker Velasco. You cannot expect him to say something good about the current House leadership," Atienza said of the Taguig-Pateros solon, who served as the House head honcho from July 22, 2019 to October 13, 2020.
Velasco took over the Speakership under very acrimonious circumstances that even involved President Duterte's mediation.
Speaking of the President, he may have also unwittingly sparked a new word war from the Velasco and Cayetano camps when he named several congressman last week as allegedly being involved with corruption in the public works sector.
According to Cayetano, his close allies Defensor and Alvarado were supposed to investigate these allegations in their capacity as chairman of the Public Accounts panel and Good Government and Public Accountability panel, respectively. But Velasco booted them from their post, he said.
“Actually, bago naalis si Mike Defensor at si Jonathan Alvarado, ‘yan ay iimbestigahan na (before Mike Defensor and Jonathan Alvarado were removed from being committee chairmen, those were set to be investigated). Pero ‘yong bagong liderato ng House pinigilan ‘yon, sinabi, ‘Wag n’yo munang imbestigahan’ (But the new House leadership blocked that and said, ‘Don’t investigate it yet),” Cayetano was quoted aa saying.
Atienza belied this, saying that Cayetano’s claim runs counter to Defensor's own statement last month when he criticized Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) Chief Greco Belgica for announcing that less than a dozen congressmen were included in their list of government officials allegedly involved in corruption with Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Atienza said Defensor challenged Belgica to file cases against lawmakers being linked to corrupt activities in DPWH projects if he had evidence, otherwise he should just shut up.
Based on his previous statement, it would appear that Defensor was also hesitant to investigate his colleagues as any investigation by the House would be self-serving, Atienza said.