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Friday, October 12, 2007
De Venecia inhibits self from Arroyo impeach raps
MANILA -- Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. has inhibited himself from the impeachment proceedings against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, paving the way for the transmittal of the complaint on Thursday night to plenary and eventually to the House committee on justice.
Malacañang, in a statement, was quick to shrugged off the endorsement of the latest impeachment complaint against Arroyo to the House committee on justice, which Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye branded as a "distraction that the President can and will ignore."
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“She (Arroyo) has a nation to govern and there are more important matters which she has to attend to,” Bunye said in a statement.
The impeachment was endorsed to the justice committee after de Venecia Jr. inhibited himself by going on leave.
De Venecia Jr. categorically stated that Malacañang has no influence on his strength as a leader when asked about his leverage in preventing allies of the President from ousting him as Speaker as the one-year ban on the filing of serious impeachment complaint against the President starts.
“I am prepared to meet all the threats to my position,” said de Venecia Jr. in a press conference. He clarified that he will inhibit from the entire impeachment proceeding against the President. “Our strength is not based on the will of the President and Malacanang.”
The Palace-de Venecia Jr. showdown is an offshoot of the allegation of the Speaker’s son, Jose "Joey" de Venecia III, that First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo pointed a finger at his face and told him to back off from the National Broadband Deal (NBN) project.
The young de Venecia is co-founder of Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI), the only company that offered to undertake the NBN through a build-operate-transfer scheme, which the Speaker stressed was the best mode for the project.
Lawyer Rafael Pulido filed last week the impeachment complaint against the President for betrayal of public trust in relation to the cancelled $329 million national broadband deal with China’s Zhong Xing Telecommunications (ZTE) Corporation. Neophyte Laguna Representative Edgar San Luis, who denies membership with Kampi, endorsed the complaint.
The minority bloc has said that the Pulido complaint is obviously meant to preempt a real complaint, which could emanate from the Speaker’s camp since Article 10, Section 3 of the Constitution states that no impeachment proceeding shall be initiated against the same official for more than once within a period of one year.
To avoid conflict of interest, de Venecia Jr. said he arrived at the decision following consideration of the complaint filed by Pulido before the House committee on ethics against him and his son Joey, which also included graft charges.
With this, de Venecia Jr. deputized Deputy Speaker for Visayas Raul del Mar to perform his ministerial duty of transmitting the complaint to the plenary and for the House committee on rules to refer to the House committee on justice where the one year ban applies.
“Considering that the complainant, Attorney Pulido, has also accused me of unethical practice before the House committee and the Ombudsman, I believe I should have no participation whatsoever in the disposal of this complaint,” said de Venecia Jr.
The transmittal of the complaint by del Mar to the plenary and its referral to the House committee on justice were scheduled Thursday night.
Reliable sources said people close to the President wanted de Venecia Jr. to take a leave of absence.
The sources added that President Arroyo reportedly ordered de Venecia Jr. to act on the complaint during their meeting in Malacañang Thursday morning.
For his part, de Venecia Jr. denied any pressure from the President and all stories about demands for him to take a leave of absence.
The Speaker said he made a sudden change of heart in the transmittal after he was informed that it would take two months for the House committee on ethics and good government to finish the probe over the reported bribery.
He added that he may be accused of obstruction of justice if he will not act on his ministerial duty.
Last Tuesday, Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran identified Francis Ver, deputy secretary general of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), as the supposed Malacañang operator who allegedly offered him P2 million in exchange for endorsing the complaint.
Ver was the former chief of staff of ex-Manila representative Mark Jimenez and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Kampi chairman, when the latter was still the representative of Antipolo City.
Meanwhile, Beltran said his colleagues should rally behind calls to investigate the charges of Cebu Representative Pablo Garcia that Secretary Puno was behind the filing of the alleged fake impeachment complaint against Arroyo.
Beltran said Garcia’s revelation that Puno facilitated the filing of the complaint as a means to further drive the wedge between de Venecia Jr. and Arroyo should be investigated with dispatch.
Chief presidential legal counsel Sergio Antonio Apostol for his part said Malacañang expects the impeachment bid against President Arroyo to fail because its proponents do not have the numbers and because it is has no basis.
Apostol said Arroyo was not involved in the broadband network deal since all the witnesses presented never said she was involved and that her alleged involvement was “all based on assumption.”
He also said the relationship between Arroyo and de Venecia Jr. would “remain as usual, cordial.”
“Malacañang has no plans to have him replaced. Although there are people who wanted to topple him, we do not support them. Status quo ang leadership (sa House),” he said.
Apostol said Pulido is not a Malacañang stooge because he filed a case against de Venecia Jr. before the Ombudsman and House committee on ethics. He said Pulido is also lawyering for the Magdalo rebels.
“Kahit may kaso siya even at the House ethics committee we would wait first kung ano ang findings sa mga iyon. He is still innocent of the charges against him (because) right now it’s not proven yet,” he said. (Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (October 12, 2007 issue)
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