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Sam Calleja
History will not be kind to him, and he continues to give history no reason to judge him otherwise
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano walks around with a padlock. It is less an object than a way of engaging political reality, a philosophy of denial. It’s his default response when democratic processes fail to produce the outcome he desires. When the numbers turn against him, he doesn’t concede. He reaches for the padlock.
In October 2020, when his term-sharing deal with then-Marinduque representative Lord Allan Velasco came due, Cayetano reneged. He held the 2021 national budget hostage and, once it was clear that his patron then president Rodrigo Duterte was displeased with his immaturity and Velasco had the numbers, attempted to prevent his ouster by physically locking down the plenary hall. He was ousted anyway.
