President Duterte may meet House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco to settle the issue regarding their term-sharing agreement to lead the House of Representatives, Malacañang said.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement following reports that the two lawmakers will meet with President Duterte on September 29 to talk about the deal that the Chief Executive brokered between them.

In his Monday presser, Roque was unable to confirm if Duterte will meet his two supporters on Tuesday but said the President has some scheduled private meetings.

"I cannot say for certain because in the schedule that I have, nakasulat lang po mga (it only states) 'private meetings'. But I intended to call the appointments office ," he said.

Roque recalled that President Duterte expressed his desire to talk to both Cayetano and Velasco but added that he was not certain when this would take place.

"I cannot say if it’s scheduled this week. But I will find out po," he said.

"Usually, I’m not allowed to divulge the schedule ahead of time but I think, by way of compromise on the same day before the meeting or right after, baka payagan po ako. I will see po kung papayagan tayo (maybe I can get permission. We'll see)," he added.

In 2019, Duterte's supporters asked for his guidance as they failed to settle who among them should lead the Lower House. Duterte advised them to let Cayetano be the House Speaker but he will share his term with Velasco.

Under the deal that Duterte brokered, Cayetano will serve as House Speaker for 15 months before Velasco replaces him and lead the body for 21 months.

As Cayetano's time as House Speaker nears its end, even Malacañang is unsure if Cayetano will hold his end of the bargain and if the members of the House of Representatives will honor the agreement.

Roque said in an interview with CNN Philippines last week that President Duterte is letting members of the House of Representatives settle their issues by themselves but it should not delay the passage of the proposed 2021 budget worth P4.506 trillion.

"Whatever the decision of the members of the House would be, non-negotiable po na kailangan maipasa ang budget on time (It's non-negotiable that the budget should be passed on time) because the budget contains P2.5 trillion of stimulus package which we badly need at a time of the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

"So now more than ever, the President is not willing to negotiate on the fact that the budget should be passed on time by December," he added.

However, Roque said that determining who will be the House speaker is always a numbers game even though President Duterte brokered the said gentleman's agreement between the two lawmakers.

"It (the gentleman's agreement) does not necessarily bind the 300 or so members of Congress. Kaya nga po (That's why), Congressman Lord Allan , by way of advice from the President, better have the numbers, too," Roque said.

"After a year and a half, the members of Congress should know better on who is best to lead them," he added.