Joey de Venecia upset over lost speaking engagement

CEBU - Senatorial hopeful Joey de Venecia, the son of the former House speaker, yesterday aired his disappointment after his speaking engagement at the aviation school inside the Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base was cancelled today after top officials from the Philippine Air force reportedly instructed the school management to cancel it.

De Venecia said the organizers told him it was cancelled for “security purposes.”

“Maybe I am a threat to the administration. The forum was cancelled, I believed, it’s because I am a critic of the president,” De Venecia said in a press conference held at Baseline Restaurant in Cebu City.

De Venecia recalled that this is the fourth time that his speaking engagement in a university was cancelled and he blames politicians for it.

The other cancellations happened in Davao, Marikina and Caloocan.

Aside from the cancellation of his speaking engagements, De Venecia said that more than 20 of his streamers were also torn down in Cebu City allegedly upon the instructions of Sinulog Foundation Inc. for reportedly being in the Sinulog grand parade route.

But Eric Pagar, one of his staff, said that the streamers were not posted within the parade routes.

De Venecia said that he will be staying in Cebu until Sunday as he will be joining the grand parade.

De Venecia, the son of former House speaker Jose de Venecia, is president and chief executive officer of Multimedia Telephony Inc., and was the one who launched broadband technology in 2000 in the country in partnership with European cable communication firm US-West Callahan Broadband Wireless Inc. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/BRP   (THE FREEMAN)