After Duterte: A preview
|!he images were distasteful. They
I showed Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano bow-
I ing low before President Duterte, who
I trad lust anointed him Speaker of the
House of Representatives. He is doing the
"mano," the Filipino ritual of respect, but
something is wrong. He is bowing too low,
and the President does not seem tO like iL In
the way the President angles his body, which
suggests that he is takirg away his hand and
in the way his face is set, the President
seems to be expressing his bwn distaste.
Mr. Duterte likes to obseree the ritual
too, for instance when he greets an old, fa-
miliar bishop, but then the images of that
encourter-as when Archbishop of Davao
Romulo Valles, the president of tfle Catholic
Bishops' Conference ofthe Philippines, vis-
it€d him in the presidential palace in Iuly
last year-are on a different register from
Cayetano's awkward bowing.
The Pre.sident and his honored guest look
like they are connecting; smiles ligbten their
faces; ald many signs of mutual respect
abound, including the not-insignificant ges-
tule on the part ofthe guest to raise his hand
to about the level of his chest, thus prevent-
ing the President ftom bowing too low.
Cayetano's encounter, on the otherhand,
does not show any connection at all with the
President except for the hands; Mr. Duterte
is tooking away (and looking irritated). There
are no smiles (not even on Cayetano's face).
And tlle putative Speakels head is awkward-
ly around the President's waist-Cayetano
is engaged in a grim act of abasemen! rather
than ritual rcspect
The funages, since shared widely on social
media, are visual proof that Cayetano-the
president's mnning mate in the 2016 elec-
tionq and on record as one of Ns major cam-
paign contributors-holds a precarious po-
sition in the Duterte alliance. They show why
he was the weakest candidate for Speaker,
and why he needed the President's outright
ilEttl$$ilrD
JOHN NERY
backing to break the deadlock in the race to
lead ttte House of Representatives. He may
enioy the President's confidenEeibut in the
racg he is no Ma.rie Kondo solution: He does
not "sparkjoy."
In fact, the President's decision to pub-
lidy endorse Cayetano, in a term-sharing ar-
rangement with Rep. Lord Allan Velasco,
with Rep. Martin Romualdez as maiority
leader thoughout the entirc tenD does not
simplifi/ matters. Rather, it allows the fac-
tionalism at the center of the Duterte alliance
to continue to fester. That the President is-
sued bis decision in public is already un-
precedented All House maiorities find a way
to dign with whoever sits in Malacaiang,
and presidents have always had a say on who
becomes Speaker, but Mr. Duterte saying the
quiet part out loud is new.
What is even more extraordinary is
thaq after lie spoke, the factions continued
to make their yiews known. Talkofapossi-
ble coup in the House circulated; misgi-
vings about Cayetano were shared.
I am of the view that tlle struggle for the
speakership of the House is a preview of life
after Mr. Dutene. Three factions of varying
sEengths are,vying for political confrot the
ttuterte siblings, SeII Bong Go and other
'^ PAq€-Act /
members of one of the President's imer cir-
cles, and the political allies of ex-President,
ex-Speaker Gloria Arroyo. The advantage of
the first two factions lies in their (perceived)
doseness to the President, and thus to what-
ever legacy he will manage to accmulate at
the qnd ofhis tenn Itrcir disadvantage is that
they are their own worst enemies.
It is not often that a group of regional rep-
resentatives alied with the President's ddl-
dren will issu€ a strong statemmt condemn-
ing the intervention of Cabinet secre-
aries-by legal definition and political tradi-
tion the alter ego of the President-in the se-
lection of the Speaker of the House. The
statement was issued when it became clear
that Cayetano was the secretaries' preferehce.
The c6ntinued sniping after Mr. Duterte made
his decision known only shows that not even
the President's authority was enough to doak
Cayetano with a protective hantle. The othdr
factions know dlat while the President deliv-
ered the votes for his runing mate-Region
)O was the only one where Cayeano mpped
the vice presidential race-there has never
been a real connection between the street
tough from Davao and the hyperarticulate
politician-of-many-shapes from Taguig. The
awkward photos are only more proof.
Cayetano was also a lead cheerleader of
the opposition when Arroyo was president;
he is notwelcome among Arroyo's allies.
His immediate floating of tetu exten-
sions was a shameless attempt to curry favor
with the politicians who will only be forced
to vote for hirt" Whether it will fly d€pends
on many factors-including whether he will
in fact survive more than a few months in the
position he was giver! ratler ttnn eamed-
But that he had to already deploy such a trial
balloon is itsetf sigr ofweakness.
Expect bloolletting among the allies.
On Twitter: @jnery-newsstand,
email: jnery@inquirer.com.p6'