“Will former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano back Sara?”

This question surfaced following the declaration of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco on Thursday, July 15 to go “all-out” for a possible presidential bid by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Requesting anonymity, a senior administration solon said Velasco’s pledge of “all-out and unconditional support” for the presidential daughter has been expected by “all of us in the Lower House, no exception.”

“But what is killing us with suspense is Speaker Cayetano’s position. Will he declare support for Mayor Sara or just keep quiet since the Nacionalista Party (NP) is supposedly solidly behind her presidential bid, anyway,” said the lawmaker who asked that his identity be kept confidential.

Cayetano is a key leader of NP which is one of the five political parties that vowed to support a Sara Duterte presidential candidacy.

While Velasco who had developed a strong bond of friendship with the Davao City mayor, Cayetano and Sara’s relationship remained hostile.

In fact, Lower House allies of Cayetano are convinced that Mayor Duterte was the strong force behind Velasco's bid for the speakership.

She was also believed to have backed the incumbent speaker in “ousting” Cayetano when he refused to honor a term-sharing agreement for the top House leadership that President Rodrigo Duterte brokered.

In many media interviews during the 2019 campaign for senatorial candidates backed by Mayor Duterte’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago, she gave words of encouragement for Velasco and incumbent Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez as they prepared for the speakership race.

The two administration allies slugged it out for the speakership of the 18th Congress but it was dark horse Cayetano who “won” the coveted position with the help of President Duterte’s “gentleman’s pact” for term sharing between the Taguig-Pateros lawmaker and Velasco.

In vowing full support for Mayor Sara’s possible presidential bid, Velasco said he was “more than glad” to hear that she is open to this possibility.

“I will support her (Duterte-Carpio) all the way,” Velasco declared.

The House leader accompanied the local chief executive for the signing of the sister city agreement between Davao and Zamboanga, and to visit the survivors of the deadly C-130 military plane crash.

“I’ve said in the past, both in public and in private, that Mayor Inday Sara is very qualified to be the country’s next president. She can unify us and lead us forward,” said Velasco.

In the latest Pulse Asia survey, the Davao City mayor emerged as the top choice for president, garnering 28 percent of the total number of respondents asked. She enjoyed a 14 percentage point lead over her closest rival.