|
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
JDV may lose Lakas presidency: Gonzalez
MANILA -- Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. said ousted House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. might also lose his leadership at the administration-backed Lakas party following his tirade of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her family.
Gonzalez said Monday night's session when former allies of de Venecia said "yes" to a motion to declare the position of House Speaker vacant was "writing on the wall."
Post here your Valentine's Day greetings
"His position (in the Lakas party) is totally eroded. How many people in Lakas voted for him? I don't know if he can still stay as president of Lakas especially with all the things he said against the President. If Lakas and Kampi will merge, I don't see any place for him there," he said.
In his speech, de Venecia declared the end of his alliance with President Arroyo and First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo whom he accused of masterminding attempts to oust him and of being behind most of the controversies that rocked the country including political killings and high-level corruption.
De Venecia accused the President of manipulating the results of the May 2004 elections, wherein she was one of the candidates for presidency.
He also scored Arroyo for the practice of making congressmen beg for their pork barrel from the Presidential sons, Representatives Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo of Pampanga and Dato Arroyo of Camarines Sur, when these funds properly belong to the elected congressmen.
Gonzalez said even his son, Iloilo Representative Raul Gonzalez Jr., had wanted to vote for a status quo or to abstain from voting, but decided to affirm the motion after hearing of de Venecia's scathing speech.
'Emotional stress'
The justice secretary attributed de Venecia's scathing speech to too much "emotional stress," but that he would have been a greater statesman if he had just accepted his defeat gracefully and restrained himself from griping against the Arroyos.
Gonzalez Sr. noted that de Venecia has already invested too much time and effort in government, administration, and the party.
"It was clearly a speech, which indicated that he has crossed his Rubicon already. He has crossed his bridges. The only problem is Julius Ceasar crossed the Rubicon and won. I don't know for the Speaker," Gonzalez Sr. said.
He added: "De Venecia's ouster was his just dessert for failing to rein in his son, Joey de Venecia III, from implicating the President's husband in the anomalous US$329-million broadband deal."
Political survivor
Gonzalez Sr. said despite de Venecia's ouster from the speakership, he should not be easily written off as he has declared his alliance with the opposition and that he is also a political "survivor."
"But the President is also a survivor. I don't think that there's much to worry as most of the things, which have been delivered last night had been delivered by other people already. It's up to the people now to consider whether that speech is still valuable at this point, considering the timing," he said.
During Tuesday's closing ceremonies of the Energy Summit at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, the President said she remains focused on expanding and ensuring continued delivery of public service instead of allowing herself to be distracted by politics.
"We are focused like a laser pointed on the infrastructure boom and expansion of public services, and not on politics," Arroyo said in a speech before the energy stakeholders, assuring everyone that she is not affected nor would she be diverted by the developments in the House.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, for his part, said legislators should set aside the results of the nominal voting process and instead "get back to work soon."
Significant progress
Bunye also believed that newly named Speaker Prospero Nograles would be listening to the sentiments of the House members including the call for reforms of some first-time congressmen.
"We have made significant progress, economically, socially and we should maintain the momentum. Let not this temporary setback be the obstacle to moving forward," Bunye said, adding that the President is not to blame for what happened in the House as she had, in her own way, taken steps to avert the debate over the speakership from breaking out into a full-blown inter-coalition fighting.
Bunye cited the caucus of the leaders of the administration coalition last Monday, which was a last-ditch bid to thresh out the issue and arrive at an amicable solution.
He added that it is now time to move on and observe a "cooling off period" to give everyone time to digest and accept what happened.
According to him, de Venecia and the President may eventually talk and meet in the future, but they would have to wait for the proper time.
Lakas help
He also hoped that Lakas leaders, including former President Fidel Ramos, would help patch things up between de Venecia and the President. Ramos is the chairman emeritus of the Lakas party where Arroyo is the current chairman and de Venecia is the President.
Ed Malay, spokesman of Ramos, said despite the ouster of de Venecia as House Speaker, the ruling administration party would remain a strong player in the Philippine political scene.
He said the February 7 Lakas national directorate meeting would be postponed to next week to "give way to the process of consultation, to prepare the members on the agenda that will be discussed during the meeting, which is to re-engineer the organizational structure of the party, to accommodate the planned inclusion of people's organizations."
"The ouster of Speaker de Venecia will of course have an impact on the party but this will not in anyway lead to the disintegration of the party. This is only a temporary setback, but the foundation of the party is strong enough to weather this conflict," he added.
Media mileage
According to Juris Soliman, chief of staff of the First Gentleman, the President's husband is leaving the fate of de Venecia to God after he accused President Arroyo and some members of the First Family of alleged involvement in certain irregularities and corrupt practices.
Soliman, however, said de Venecia should make the appropriate charges in court and back up his allegations with evidence "instead of media mileage and using Congress and their immunity to malign the First Gentleman."
She said the court is the proper forum, not Congress.
Asked how the President's husband took de Venecia's privilege speech, Soliman said FG Arroyo was very calm and "doesn't mind anymore."
She said he now has a "peaceful life" which started since his operation last year. She said the First Gentleman would simply "smile and ignore it."
Soliman also denied that the First Gentleman was behind the complaint against de Venecia before the House ethics committee, reiterating that the President's husband had already bid politics goodbye since his heart operation.
Illegalities
The Commission on Elections (Comelec), which was accused by de Venecia of conniving with the Arroyos in manipulating the results of the 2004 presidential elections to ensure the victory of the President, denied the allegations of the former Speaker.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the statement made by de Venecia last Monday does not establish that illegalities indeed took place in the last presidential elections.
"The statement is just a reflection of our elections. He (de Venecia) could've easily said that there was cheating that took place, but he did not. He just said 'there was an attempt'," he explained.
Jimenez is worried about the effects of the accusations, as it would again put the credibility of the Comelec in question.
Independence
Nograles said he does not owe his position to the Arroyos and vowed to do his best to maintain Congress' "independence" from Malacañang.
The new Speaker issued the statement as he denied claims that those who voted for de Venecia's ouster were rewarded P1 million in cash and another P10 million worth of Special Road Support Fund sourced from the road user's tax.
An administration congressman who asked not to be named said money changed hands during the meeting of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) at the residence of Mikey Arroyo in La Vista Subdivision, Quezon City on the eve of the plenary voting last Monday night.
"We took a vote. The Arroyos (Mikey Arroyo, his younger brother Dato and their uncle Ignacio) have only three votes," Nograles said.
He said democracy was exercised during the lengthy plenary voting and that the majority could have easily outvoted de Venecia supporters to maintain status quo.
Nograles thanked all congressmen, especially de Venecia, for nominating him and giving him his confidence. "I thank him (de Venecia) for all the years of service that he had done for the House of Representatives," he said.
Nograles vowed to do his best to restore order in the House, especially by making public the disbursement of fund, which was one of the primary complaints against de Venecia's leadership.
"The number one complaint of congressmen is the lack of transparency in the use of House funds and I will make sure that this will change," he said. "However, I think that what we should do first is to heal the wounds so that we can work better as legislators."
As a new "transition group" is being formed to facilitate a smooth transfer of power, Nograles confirmed that minor changes in the committee chairmanships is possible.
Mindanao bloc
The united Mindanao bloc of the House of Representatives is also pinning its hope on Nograles to give more projects and more importance to Mindanao.
Among the projects and issues that Mindanao congressmen hope Nograles would prioritize are the Mindanao Railway System, disparity in the distribution of government resources, general neglect of Mindanao in favor of Imperial Manila, and the peace negotiations.
"We hope that with Nograles as Speaker, Mindanao will finally be given the attention it needs and rightly deserves," said Davao del Norte Representative Anton Lagdameo.
"More projects and meaningful legislations for Mindanao. The long-delayed Mindanao Railway System and measures to enhance the peace and development of the island must be pursued now that we have a Speaker from Mindanao," Davao City Third District Representative Isidro Ungab said.
Optimism
At the Senate, Senator Edgardo Angara expressed optimism that Nograles will continue to push for a strong legislative reform agenda.
"Speaker Jose de Venecia's leadership has brought forth unprecedented reforms. Under him, urgent measures were passed. People would miss that dynamism in pushing for legislative action," he said. "The rise of new Speaker Prospero Nograles of Davao brings fresh hope that the reform agenda will continue."
Opposition Senator Francis Escudero challenged de Venecia to speak his mind as the lawmaker offered the Senate as right venue for the former Speaker.
"If he can't get a fair hearing in the House he once headed, ousted Speaker Jose de Venecia is most welcome to spill the beans in the chamber he worked so hard to abolish," Escudero said.
Escudero said with de Venecia's encyclopedic knowledge on the workings of the present government, including deals it had entered into, then the former Speaker must tell all, and the Senate provides the venue, for such a narration.
For the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the change in the House leadership does not necessarily mean that it would transform the House of Representatives.
CBCP public affairs committee chairperson Deogracias Iniguez said the election of Nograles would not result in any change based on what happened in the past. (Sunnex/With BOT of Sun.Star Davao)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (February 6, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
