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AS the
plot to oust Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. thickens,
another key ally of the Pangasinan legislator openly
declared that he has lost confidence on his leadership,
a move that further split the fragmented ruling Lakas in
the House of Representatives.
Lakas
Rep. Monico Puentebella of
Bacolod
City said he is ready to suffer the consequences for
bolting the camp of de Venecia.
“Deretsahan
na, bahala na ang Diyos sa akin. But while I respect
the Speaker, he was not able to control his son,” said
Puentebella during a news forum in Quezon City on
Wednesday, referring to Jose de Venecia III, who spilled
the beans on the alleged anomalies that attended the
national broadband network contract with a Chinese
company and implicated President Arroyo’s husband, Jose
Miguel, in the alleged anomalous deal.
Puentebella said Joey’s implication of the First Family
on the NBN deal is irreparable.
He said
that the inability of de Venecia to discipline and stop
his son from dragging the First Family, especially the
President’s husband “into the abyss of political
humiliation will cost him his post.”
“While
we are hoping for a Shangri-La in Lakas, where an
atmosphere of peace and tranquillity would prevail, that
Shangri-La is now being eroded, thanks but no thanks to
Joey,” said Puentebella.
He added
that he had given the Speaker an unsolicited advice two
months ago, telling him to stop his son but he did not
listen.
“On the
contrary, Joey continued his tirades against the First
Family, three members of which are in the House,” he
said.
“What
would you expect? People who are supporting the
President have been hurt and they can no longer take it.
Our survival is on the line, we are no martyrs,” he
stressed. “If the Speaker cannot stop Joey from further
falsely accusing the First Family, neither can he stop
Rep. Boy Nograles (Lakas Rep. Prospero of Davao) and all
the people supporting the President from doing their
thing or advocating a change of leadership in the
House.”
Nograles,
who is allegedly among the legislators plotting the
ouster move, is being groomed to replace de Venecia.
“Now
it’s just no longer the ZTE broadband deal, he is
destroying the credibility not only of the President’s
husband but also that of the House,” said Puentebella,
referring to his latest accusation that the President’s
husband is masterminding the plot to unseat the Speaker.
Bagong
Laban ng Nueva Ecija [Balane] Rep. Edno Joson said that
the situation is “already out of control.”
“The die
is cast. President Arroyo had been hurt and she needs to
prove she’s strong and on top of the situation,” said
Joson in the same news forum.
Joson
added that the reported reconciliation between the
warring factions of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi)
led by Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Rep. Luis
Villafuerte of Camarines Sur, would play a major role in
the ouster of de Venecia.
“Kampi
was not able to take the Speakership last time because
the party was fragmented. “Now, it’s Lakas that is
fragmented and Kampi that is united.”
He
described the move to oust de Venecia as “strong and
serious.”
Liberal
Party Rep. Danilo Suarez of Quezon, meanwhile, assailed
de Venecia for using his son as a tool to pressure the
President into supporting his bid to cling to his post.
Suarez
said that the ploy of Joey in making it appear that he
would attend Wednesday’s Senate hearing into the NBN
deal was meant to badger the First Family into throwing
its support for his father, now facing his toughest
challenge yet in his bid to retain the House leadership.
“What
kind of ally can you call someone like Jose de Venecia
[Jr.], who lets loose his own son to use against the
President when its suits his needs and purposes? Joey de
Venecia can just spew more falsehoods, double hearsays
and triple hearsays to malign the First Family anytime
he wants to, so long as his father finds it necessary to
use him as a tool to cling to the Speakership,” said
Suarez.
For his
part, Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Antonio
Cerilles of Zamboanga del Sur said he has yet to
personally hear Mrs. Arroyo say that she is behind de
Venecia as earlier claimed by the camp of the Pangasinan
legislator.
“I think
it is wise move on the President’s part to keep silent
on this issue considering that this involves the
internal affairs of a coequal branch of government,”
Cerilles said.
He also
lamented that the approval rating of the House had sunk
significantly since de Venecia got involved in so many
controversies involving his family’s business interests.
“The
fact alone that Speaker de Venecia has a lot of vested
interests already poses a problem. He cannot be totally
objective in running the affairs of the House especially
if his family’s business interests are on the line,”
Cerilles said.
“If he
truly cares for the House of Representatives, Speaker de
Venecia will step down and allow the groups who want to
restore the good image of the House to reinvent
Congress. Now is the time for change,” he added. |
