|
By Efren L. Danao Senior, Reporter
Speaker Jose de Venecia called on
Tuesday for a caucus of the House majority coalition to settle the
leadership row in the chamber before the Fourteenth Congress
convenes and to prevent the fight for the speakership from becoming
“bloody.”
He urged his rival,
Congressman-elect Pablo Garcia of Cebu, to join the majority caucus
where they will hold a straw vote to determine who enjoys the bigger
support.
“Let us lay down our cards on
the table. If Pabling Garcia has more supporters, then I will
personally nominate him on July 23 when the Fourteenth Congress
convenes,” he said.
De Venecia said he does not favor
any secret balloting at the caucus.
“There is no secret balloting
in a caucus. One’s supporter should not feel ashamed of his
stand,” he stressed.
De Venecia, who is seeking his
fifth term as Speaker, said the “viciousness” of the current
campaign differentiates it from his previous ones. He did not blame
Garcia, however, for the “dirty and vicious” campaign.
“I know him to be moderate, a
brilliant constitutionalist. I don’t know why he is allowing his
lieutenants to wage a dirty campaign,” he said of Garcia.
He said that the holding of the
caucus should put an end to charges and countercharges between their
camps.
“They should put up or shut
up,” de Venecia said.
He issued the call even as he
expressed confidence that he would emerge winner in the caucus.
“I have the endorsement of 166
congressmen. It was 167 before but Congressman [Amado] Bagatsing [of
Manila] withdrew his signature,” he said.
Bagatsing claimed that what he
had signed was an endorsement of de Venecia’s legislative program
and not of his quest for the speakership. He charged the de Venecia
camp with “misrepresentation.”
De Venecia, however, said that
the document signed by Bagatsing and 166 other congressmen endorsed
both his legislative program and his bid for the speakership.
He gave The Manila Times a
duplicate copy of the document, part of which read: “We are
pleased to join Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. of the Fourth District of
Pangasinan as co-authors of this Declaration and ask him to offer
himself for the speakership—because we believe he is the
best-equipped, by his track record and strong political will, by his
understanding of the parliamentary process, his broad legislative
experience, his standing in the Asian and international community,
and his conciliatory spirit to steer these make-or-break legislative
programs through the Fourteenth Congress.”
“I don’t know what happened
to Amado, but whatever it is, I forgive him,” de Venecia said.
Among the signatories of the
document were Reps. Ignacio Arroyo and Juan Miguel Arroyo, both
stalwarts of Kampi to which Garcia belongs.
De Venecia warned that the people
would not like it if the majority would settle the speakership row
on the floor on July 23 for the loser and his followers would then
be the minority.
“If Pabling Garcia defeats me
on the floor, then I will be in the minority, a very big minority. I
would feel terrible because I don’t want to fool the people. I am
with the majority, not with the minority, but that is what will
happen if we will fight on the floor,” he said.
There were reports that President
Arroyo was taking her hands off the House row because Garcia was
governor of Cebu when he got a 1-million vote edge over the late Fernando
Poe Jr. in the 2004 presidential election.
“His daughter Gwen won as
governor in 2004 with just 7,000 votes over Junie Martinez so how
could we attribute all one million votes to the Garcias?” de
Venecia said, even as he maintained that President Arroyo is rooting
for him.
De Venecia deplored the
“vicious and poisonous” campaign waged by his rival as something
that is “destroying the integrity of the institution.”
“We should put an end to this
vicious and poisonous politics. Statesmanship should be the rule,”
he said.
--With Maricel V. Cruz
|
