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A PROADMINISTRATION lawmaker said on Monday that
Speaker Jose de Venecia should quit the speakership race as he is
losing the support of congressmen, including those from his own
party Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD).
Rep. Jose Solis of Sorsogon,
member of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) and onetime de
Venecia supporter, said only about 60 of incoming Lakas legislators
for the Fourteenth Congress showed up at de Venecia’s Forbes Park
residence last Saturday for a “loyalty check” called by the
outgoing speaker.
“The support Speaker de Venecia
imagines he has is like water slipping through his fingers. His
claim that he has the numbers to retain the speakership of the House
of Representatives is clearly an empty one,” Solis said.
If that’s the case, de Venecia
“should consider doing the honorable thing by quitting the
speakership race, especially since he has once again touched a raw
nerve among our people by trying to ram Charter change anew down our
throats.”
De Venecia’s bid for a fifth
term as speaker is being challenged by Rep. Pablo Garcia of Cebu, a
Kampi stalwart.
Garcia’s supporters have
expressed dissatisfaction with the way de Venecia has been handling
the affairs of the House.
“Speaker de Venecia should give
the House a chance to regain the respect of the people by not
contesting the speakership anymore. He has had his chances, but his
best efforts had been found wanting,” Solis said.
Solis, who is part of de
Venecia’s “Sunshine Coalition,” stressed it would be
understandable why even Lakas congressmen might want to support
Garcia “since the House had never been as vilified as ‘corrupt,
inept and useless’ [as it was] during the four terms of de Venecia.”
Surveys showed that the trust
ratings of the House have been at their lowest with de Venecia as
speaker, according to Solis.
 --Maricel
V. Cruz
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