Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte intends to resign as deputy speaker today, a reliable source told the Manila Bulletin.

(KEITH BACONGCO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Duterte informed fellow majority bloc congressmen of his plan just minutes after Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco was elected Speaker by 186 House members at the Celebrity Sports Plaza in Quezon City.
"This is to inform all of you that I will be submitting my resignation to both Speakers as deputy speaker for political affairs, this afternoon," the source quoted the presidential son as saying through a post on the majority bloc's Viber group.
"Rep. Duterte left the group after sending the message," the source said.
The other Speaker that "Pulong" was referring to was Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano, which the Velasco group had supposedly ousted in the Celebrity Sports Plaza coup d'etat.
Cayetano, in subsequent press conference at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City, branded his rival Velasco's election as unconstitutional since it did not happen on the House plenary floor. Batasang Pambansa – located not far from the Quezon City country club – is the official home of the 299-member House.
Anakalusugan Party-List Rep. Mike Defensor, a staunch Cayetano backer, acknowledged the information on Rep. Duterte's planned resignation. He offered his read of Pulong's move.
"I guess he wants to stay neutral and is frustrated with how things are turning out," Defensor said.
Arguably serving as the biggest factor in Velasco's ability to amass majority support from his colleagues today was the intervention of Rep. Duterte's sister, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte. Mayor Duterte, Velasco's close friend, has reportedly been calling congressmen in behalf of the Marinduque solon since this weekend.
In a statement last Thursday, Rep. Duterte described Cayetano and Velasco as both his "good friends" and refused to pick one over the other amid the intensifying fight over the country’s fourth most powerful position.
This was in light of the prolonged uncertainty as to whether or not the term-sharing agreement between the two lawmakers would push through.
"As I am all for a unified House, and given the value I place in every member of Congress, I refuse to make any statement that will favor or damage either of my two good friends who are both asserting their right to be our Speaker," Pulong said.
Rep. Duterte and Mayor Duterte's father, President Duterte, was the one who brokered the term-sharing deal between Cayetano and Velasco last year following the May 2019 elections.