Cayetano apologizes to Sotto over budget delay remark

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano apologized to Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Thursday for sounding like he was blaming the Senate for potential delays in passing the proposed P4.5-trillion budget for 2021.

Cayetano said he called Sotto to clarify that his remarks were misconstrued and assured that any delay would not be due to the House, which has already approved the budget on third reading.

Sotto accepted Cayetano's apology but criticized the speaker for passing blame in advance, emphasizing that the Senate had not yet received the budget proposal from the House.