3 more parties joining political summit

Three more groups of politicians are joining the political summit that Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. has organized and scheduled from May 3 to 5.

The three are PDP-Laban led by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., the Liberal Party headed by Batanes Rep. Florencio Abad and the Nacionalista Party of former Vice President Salvador Laurel.

Of the three, Abad’s LP is the biggest bloc in the House with 20 members. PDP-Laban has four, while Laurel’s NP has two.

Earlier, De Venecia, who is national chairman of the ruling Lakas-NUCD, invited the opposition Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino and the pro-administration Nationalist People’s Coalition to join the planned political summit.

LDP is led by Sen. Edgardo Angara and House Minority Leader Carlos Padilla, while NPC, founded and financed by San Miguel Corp. chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., is headed by Tarlac Rep. Gilberto Teodoro Jr., a Cojuangco nephew.

The Speaker said the three-day conference aims to remove the "political poison from the atmosphere" and forge cooperation among major political groups on a common agenda to move the economy and the country forward.

He envisions a repeat of the Ramos years when the country attained unprecedented economic growth.

At that time, De Venecia served his first and second terms as Speaker. The Senate was then controlled by the opposition with Angara as its president.

Then President Fidel Ramos got the two chambers of Congress to work together in putting in place economic and other structural reforms that largely accounted for the unparalleled growth during those years. – Jess Diaz