JDV denies spending P600-M intel funds

MANILA, Philippines – Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. yesterday denied reports about the P600-million intelligence fund spent during his term as Speaker of the House of Representatives that is now the subject of an audit to be conducted by the House leadership.

The ousted speaker called The STAR from New York to give his reaction on the creation of two five-man teams to audit the intelligence funds.

“May God strike me dead if that’s true. That’s already one-fifth of the budget of the House. That is very, very wild,” De Venecia said.

De Venecia also reacted strongly to accusations that he had 200 “ghost consultants” under his term, which reportedly included the House’s media office.

He said all lawmakers have consultants, but stressed that he only had 15 advisers at the most.

As to the alleged P150-million budget needed to produce one bill, De Venecia clarified that this figure is for the 300 bills pending in the Senate.

Over the weekend, De Venecia’s successor, House Speaker Prospero Nograles, said he will designate five lawmakers for the first team that will audit the former speaker’s intelligence funds while Sorsogon Rep. Jose Solis will name five members to compose another team.

Nograles told The STAR that the teams will meet soon to discuss details of the committees.

The so-called “intelligence funds” of De Venecia was cited as one of the reasons why he was ousted from office.

“The Accounts Committee did not meet regularly in the past. Under our watch, we should endeavor to call as many meetings to explain to members how the budget of the House is farmed out, in line with transparency,” Nograles said.

De Venecia, who was elected speaker five times, was removed from his post last month after lawmakers claimed they want reforms to be implemented in the Lower House.

De Venecia claims that Malacañang had a hand in his ouster.

He was previously a close political ally of the administration, but his relationship with the President turned sour after his son, Jose “Joey” de Venecia III, exposed alleged irregularities in the cancelled national broadband network (NBN) project of the government with ZTE Corp. of China.

De Venecia III said the overprice was intended to fund kickbacks for several government officials and for Mrs. Arroyo’s husband, First Gentleman Mike Arroyo.

Hours before his removal from the speakership, De Venecia delivered a privilege speech wherein he urged Commission on Higher Education Chairman Romulo Neri, formerly the director general of the National Economic and Development Authority which reviewed the project, to go to the Senate and reveal what he knows about the anomalies that tainted the NBN project.