No plans for higher office: Lord Velasco confirms reelection bid

By Billy Begas

Speaker Lord Allan Jay Velasco will run for reelection in the 2022 polls.

In a television interview, Velasco denied speculation that he will be gunning for a higher position in the coming election.

“Yes I’m running for reelection. I still have one last term…. People are speculating that I might go to a higher position, but definitely I still have a lot to finish in my province so I would want finish first and work for my province of Marinduque,” Velasco said.

Asked if he would run for speakership, Velasco said it would depend on the support the members of the next Congress.

“That would actually depend…. if I have the support of majority of the members of Congress. If I have that then definitely I will still gun for the speakership,” Velasco added.

The Constitution allows members of the House of Representative to run for three consecutive terms.

Velasco was a member of the 15th, 16th, 17th and the current 18th Congresses based on record of the House.

In January 2016, the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) upheld its decision disqualifying Velasco’s opponent Marinduque Rep. Regina Ongsiako Reyes in the 2013 elections.

The Supreme Court has also upheld the victory of Velasco and ordered the House to swear him in as a member of the 16th Congress.

Velasco took his oath of office on February 1, 2016. The term started in 2013 and ended in June 2016.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)