Wednesday, December 05, 2007 House junks rap vs. JDV
THE House committee on ethics yesterday dismissed the complaint against Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. due to lack of jurisdiction and merit.
Raul Lambino, lawyer of de Venecia, filed a point-by-point reply to the charges “in order to shed light on the malicious accusations against him and to set a precedent and guidance for everyone.”
In the reply, de Venecia denied that his son and namesake Jose “Joey” de Venecia III was an incorporator or an officer of the Multi-Media Telephony Inc. when the company applied for a legislative franchise and was granted one in 1993.
On Joey’s proposal for the government’s national broadband network (NBN), the speaker said he proposed that it be undertaken as a build-operate-transfer (BOT) project that would not involve any government loan, government expense, risk or sovereign guarantee.
Committee chairman Eleandro Madrona said the allegations clearly contained matters not falling under the jurisdiction of Congress.
He also said the complaint was just a form of political harassment against the speaker.
“The committee collegially decided on the dismissal and even members of the opposition joined and voted for the motion to dismiss the complaint,” Madrona said.
“Our collective and multi-partisan decision followed rules to the letter.”
Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez is among the opposition congressmen who voted for the motion to junk the case.
Another opposition stalwart, Bayan Muna party-list Representative Teodoro Casiño, also voted for the dismissal of the complaint. (Sunnex)
