Election of officials with integrity urged

DAGUPAN, Pangasinan , Philippines  – Businessman Jose de Venecia III said he is confident that the Philippines can prevent both the figurative and literal catastrophe in the coming years if they will elect into office officials of high moral turpitude and integrity.

In a press conference the other day, De Venecia, who captured the country’s imagination as the whistle-blower in the multi-million dollar NBN-ZTE broadband deal, also took a swipe at the current political leadership noting that the best way to prevent any future disaster “is to make sure that the reign of greed comes to an end in next year’s elections.”

“We can make sure that the reign of greed comes to an end by rejecting all corrupt politicians in the May 2010 elections,” he said.

This developed as he raised the possibility that the next President could face the dilemma of having a hostile Congress that would push for Charter change and change the present system into a unicameral form of government.

He also suggested that President Arroyo could run for representative for the province of Pampanga after which she and her allies would ram the Constitution and eventually change it into unicameral, thus giving her the chance to be elected as prime minister. “Whoever wins as President in 2010 is inconsequential. She is counting on a tsunami of congressional Charter change initiative,” the son and namesake of former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said. “This explains why administration standard bearer Gibo Teodoro has been left to fend for himself with no effort whatsoever from the Palace to stop the continued exodus of allies to the opposition,” he also said.

“My fearless forecast is that the opposition will win the presidency but lose the Cha-cha war,” De Venecia said.     – Jun Elias