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Thursday, March 06, 2008
Mindanao bloc wants new Lakas chief
By Ben O. Tesiorna
* JDV agrees to be removed as Lakas president
DAVAO CITY -- Majority of the members of the House of Representatives' Mindanao-bloc have aired their agreement that Pangasinan Representative Jose de Venecia Jr. has to be replaced as president of Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD).
But the ousted Speaker said he is now ready to abide by the decision of the ruling Lakas-CMD to remove him as the party president so long as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will not dictate the changes in the party.
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
North Cotabato Representative Bernardo Piñol Jr. said he is in favor of House Speaker Prospero C. Nograles becoming the next Lakas-CMD president.
He said Nograles is another big break for the Mindanaons, if he will become the next Lakas chief.
During the speakership row, Piñol voted in favor of de Venecia. "My vote was not against Nograles but was against the outside influence getting its way to the House," explained Piñol.
Davao del Sur Representative Marc Douglas Cagas IV said that since de Venecia has "burned the bridges with Malacañang" it is just apt for him to be unseated as Lakas president.
He added: "Whoever can maintain the solidarity within the party is best to replace de Venecia."
The same sentiment was expressed by Davao del Norte Representative Anton Lagdameo who said he would support whoever will be chosen by the majority of the Lakas members.
Lagdameo believes that majority of the Lakas members no longer want de Venecia to stay as party president.
On Monday, Nograles met with other officers of the Lakas-CMD including former President Fidel V. Ramos, the party chairman emeritus, where the proposal to make de Venecia as emeritus president and appoint a new president of the party was floated.
Upon de Venecia's arrival from a speaking engagement in the United Nations in New York, he said he is already amenable to the suggestion of Ramos to make him president emeritus.
Ramos has said the new post should be created to accommodate de Venecia who has severed political ties with Arroyo after he was ousted as Speaker last February 4 because of his son Joey's damaging testimonies on the anomalous US$329 million national broadband network (NBN) deal with China's ZTE Corp.
De Venecia said he would speak to Ramos and Nograles to facilitate the changes in Lakas, which he stressed, should not be based on the dictates and whims of President Arroyo who is the party chairperson.
The Lakas executive committee last Monday decided to postpone the election on de Venecia's ouster and wait for the national directorate meeting on March 10.
De Venecia's lawyer Raul Lambino has been threatening to file a case against Lakas officials before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) once de Venecia is ousted as party president.
Lambino insisted that the Lakas executive council has no power to unseat de Venecia while the national directorate can only ask the national assembly for an election.
Before his US trip, de Venecia sought Ramos's help to prevent the merger of the Lakas-CMD and the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) and "get rid of the evil forces that are now bedeviling" the ruling party.
The former Speaker urged Ramos to drive away the "evil forces" from Lakas and join another party "where they can be comfortable with their greed and pathetic practices."
In his letter, de Venecia asked Ramos to stop the "decline and demise" of the ruling party, which he said is now in "the grip of Malacañang and heavily infiltrated by the forces of Kampi and the President's family and cronies."
"She (President Arroyo) appeared to agree to the merger only when she needed our party's support, as during the series of crises that confronted her presidency," he said. "Now that she is facing another crisis, there is again this talk of merger," the former Speaker added. (WV/Sunnex/Sun.Star Davao)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (March 6, 2008 issue)
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