Lakas unlikely to sanction JDV for endorsing impeach rap vs GMA

MANILA, Philippines – Former Speaker Jose de Venecia may not be sanctioned by the leadership of Lakas-CMD for announcing that he would endorse the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo, a senior House leader predicted.

Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor, chairman of the House committee on justice, believes that Lakas – of which the Pangasinan congressman is president emeritus – may just let the issue pass, out of respect for the ousted House leader and his complainant-son Jose III.

Contrary to what most lawmakers say, he explained that impeachment is not always a game of numbers, as House members have their own personal assessment of the complaint and evidence filed, like that of deposed President Joseph Estrada in December 2000.

Defensor disagreed with the statement of Speaker Prospero Nograles that De Venecia may be sanctioned by the Lakas-CMD leadership for taking a stand “inimical to the party’s interests,” which is endorsing the impeachment complaint against Mrs. Arroyo, Lakas chairman.

“I don’t think the party will take punitive actions against JDV. We go by the hierarchy of interests,” he said, citing the case of his son, former presidential chief of staff Mike Defensor, who, in 2001, gathered 85 signatures for Estrada’s impeachment.

“Mike was never expelled from the Liberal Party. He was with the majority coalition during the time of (former President) Estrada,” he narrated. “It’s in the higher interest. Who knows, maybe they (congressmen) are going to cross party-lines.”

“I disagree that it (impeachment) is all about numbers. I always view impeachment cases as an opportunity of well-meaning members of the House to determine the complaint and the evidence attached to it,” Defensor added.

De Venecia’s son agreed with the administration lawmaker, though his statement is self-serving.

“I don’t think the Lakas members will actually punish him since they have a lot of respect for him,” he said.

“I don’t think my father would be threatened from his position in Lakas or even be thrown out from the Lakas party,” said the whistleblower who lost the bid in the canceled $329-million national broadband network deal with Chinese-owned ZTE network.

To disprove the accusation that the impeachment complaint he filed against Mrs. Arroyo is motivated by politics, the younger De Venecia has said he will not seek public office in the May 2010 elections.

“Me, I have no plans at all in terms of (the May) 2010 (elections),” he said in an interview, refuting insinuations he filed the complaint because he either intends to run for senator or take the place of his father as congressman of Pangasinan’s fourth district.

When asked if he or his stepmother Gina will take the post that will be vacated by his father (who is on his third and last term), he replied that they haven’t discussed it, especially since they think there will be no elections in 2010.

“We don’t talk about politics anymore. In fact, we never talked about politics at all,” said the son and namesake of De Venecia, a staunch ally of President Arroyo until his ouster last February, when the younger De Venecia testified on the NBN deal.

“I personally feel that there will be no election in 2010. They are now passing around a document and gathering 119 signatures for Charter change for (the convening) of a constituent assembly,” revealed De Venecia, founder of Amsterdam Holdings Inc. which lost the NBN bid to ZTE Corp.

He also said that they are thinking of amending the impeachment complaint to include the government’s botched memorandum of agreement with Muslim rebels in order to increase its chances of getting support from more lawmakers.