So what? JDV says of Mikey’s leave

DAGUPAN CITY – “So what? So what? So what?”

That was the reaction of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. when asked about the decision of presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo to take an indefinite leave of absence from the ruling Lakas-CMD.

“I love Mikey because his ninang (godmother) is my wife Gina,” De Venecia, president of Lakas, said, adding that his wife and Arroyo are very close.

Many believe Arroyo’s decision was an offshoot of the national broadband network controversy that pitted De Venecia’s son Joey III against the Pampanga congressman’s father and First Gentleman Jose “Mike” Arroyo.

The young De Venecia, at a Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing last year, said the First Gentleman ordered him to “back off” from the NBN project.

Joey de Venecia, principal stockholder of NBN proponent Amsterdam Holdings Inc., was contesting the awarding of the contract to ZTE Corp. of China. President Arroyo has since cancelled the $329-million deal with ZTE Corp.

The Speaker said Mrs. Arroyo deserves praise for canceling the controversial contract.

The controversy put De Venecia’s leadership in danger as some pro-administration congressmen sympathetic to the First Gentleman worked clandestinely for his ouster.

But yesterday, the Speaker said he remains confident of keeping the House leadership despite Arroyo’s taking a leave from the ruling party.

“If there is a candidate with 131 votes, then he can take over the Speakership of the House whoever that person is,” he said. He said even the President continues to trust him.

He reiterated that he is not running for president in 2010 despite being egged on by supporters. He ran but lost in the 1998 presidential polls.

“I told them I’ve had enough,” he said, laughing.

He said he is determined to leave politics because it’s “very expensive and there’s a lot of corruption.”

He said he is batting for a measure that will require the state to finance political parties so that there will be no questionable campaign contributions, particularly from gambling or criminal groups.

“That’s why not only the politicians and the political leaders are corrupt but also the electorate are corrupted because everybody’s vote is for sale,” he said.