Thursday, February 21, 2008 Palace sees removal of JDV as Lakas president
MALACAÑANG said the removal of former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. as Lakas president is "highly probable" because of his family's continuous tirades against the Arroyo administration and the First Family.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who is Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) regional chairman for Southern Tagalog, said "practical politics" dictates that the ouster of de Venecia as Lakas president be looked into "very seriously" during the Lakas national directorate meeting on March 6.
"Because the former Speaker and president of the party has turned his back at the leadership and the fellow leaders of the party, the members of the national directorate who represent the general assembly definitely would have their thoughts on how to deal with the issue," Ermita said.
He said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is Lakas-CMD chairman and founding chairman of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), has ordered the leaders of both parties to speed up their merger "with Lakas as the survivor party" in order to further strengthen the administration party.
"We are in process of bringing together the joint committees of Lakas and Kampi in order to look at details leading towards the processes for the merger," he said.
The Lakas-CMD national directorate meeting was supposed to be held last February 8 at the Manila Hotel but it was postponed to February 21 due to the speakership row in the House of Representatives between de Venecia and now Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr.
Ermita said the meeting was further postponed to ensure the presence and availability of all leaders such as Arroyo, chairman emeritus and former President Fidel Ramos, Nograles, and many congressmen who serve as regional Lakas chairmen.
Ed Malay, Ramos's media adviser, said the date of the meeting was also postponed because Ramos does not want it to be in conflict with the celebrations of the Edsa People Power 1 revolution.
Ermita also dismissed reports quoting Georgina de Venecia, wife of the former Speaker, as saying that she knows of Arroyo's efforts to stay in power beyond her term in 2010.
Mrs. de Venecia also claimed that at the height of the "Hello Garci" wiretapping scandal, Arroyo lost control of government and let her husband Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo take charge.
Ermita said Mrs. de Venecia's statements are just "a product of the existing (family) enmity right now."
"It's one to say and reveal something, it's another to prove it and with enough evidence in the proper forum. I suppose that just has to happen," he said.
On the reported suggestions for the President to do a Nelson Mandela and ask her family to resign from government for the sake of "cleansing," Ermita said Arroyo has a mind of her own and is "responsible enough to do what she thinks she must do on different situations." (JMR/Sunnex)
