Friday, September 21, 2007 Malilong: Can’t Joey de Venecia tell the truth? By Frank Malilong The Other Side
SO Jose “Joey” de Venecia III is a sore loser. He is enslaved by his bitterness over having lost a multi-million dollar business deal that he conceptualized and is now ranting and raving like a man possessed against all those he perceived were responsible for his not having gotten the National Broadband Network (NBN) project.
So he is a former drug addict, too, at one time living in an unreal world, given to hallucinations, perhaps, even paranoia.
But so what?
I watched (on TV) the young de Venecia testify at the Senate inquiry on the NBN deal last Tuesday and he certainly did not look like someone who was high on drugs. In fact, he appeared so calm, so sober and so dignified that he could shame some of the senators in attendance.
Is he out or being used to bring down the Arroyo presidency? Can you say that about someone who repeatedly described Mrs. Arroyo as “my President” and who declared spontaneously and unequivocally that he was convinced that she (and his father, the House Speaker) did not know about the project’s details?
In fact, de Venecia’s continued reference to Mrs. Arroyo as “my President” riled Sen. Chiz Escudero enough to declare that she is not his President, a disclaimer that Sen. Jamby Madrigal, true to form, would later adopt. The disavowal was unnecessary as it was wrong (I voted for Escudero but did not for Madrigal, something that I must declare I am proud of, but both of them are my senators as all the members of their chamber are).
Name the top twenty people in government who would revel in the downfall of Mrs. Arroyo and Escudero and Madrigal would be in that list. That they would publicly (and foolishly) display their irritation towards de Venecia negates any notion about the latter being involved in a grand conspiracy to destabilize the Arroyo administration and eventually unseat her.
De Venecia took a huge risk in accusing Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos and Mike Arroyo of wrongdoing. I’m sure he weighed the consequences before he went public with his accusations, including the repercussions to his father’s political career.
Already, Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo is making noise about his support for the elder de Venecia having ended after the election for speaker. There must be others like Iggy (who once confessed that it was he, not his brother, who was Jose Pidal), waiting for the signal to pounce on Joe de V to deliver the strong message that he should rein his son in or they will unleash their dogs against him.
But if Joey de Venecia is lying, why should he lie against Abalos and the President’s husband? If he is hallucinating, how did Abalos and Mike Arroyo come into the picture? What malevolence has driven him to testify against powerful people who could cause immense trouble to him and his loved ones?
Why is he picking on them?
It may be true that Joey was once upon a time hooked on drugs. Let us grant, for the sake of argument, that his old habit has impaired his judgment and that his anger and resentment over a botched deal have held him hostage.
But what do all these say? That he is incapable of telling the truth?
