YOU are delusional if you think that when the 186 members of the House of Representatives voted to oust Alan Peter Cayetano and replace him with Lord Allan Jay Velasco as speaker, change is coming. If there is anything in this political maneuver, it is simply another move to strengthen the hand of President Rodrigo Duterte and his children.

It is easy to paint this political theater as one where Alan Peter Cayetano simply overplayed his hand and lost, miserably. Others who dislike him may even revel in the thought that he just got what he deserved. He took the rejection by an overwhelming majority of the House of his first attempt to resign as a vote of confidence. He counted on the support of 205 members of the House. So, when 186 voted to oust him and replace him with Velasco, this meant that 119 of his 205 supporters either failed to vote or remained with him. It is now obvious that 86 members changed their minds and abandoned him. It is indeed karmic, if one sees it as an instant blowback after turning his back on the gentleman’s agreement that he had with Velasco.