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By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
The Sunday meeting of Lakas Party stalwarts
failed to settle the House leadership row, with leaders agreeing
only to reconvene at 10 a.m. Monday in a last-ditch effort to keep
the coalition intact.
A showdown is expected when the House of
Representatives is called into session today, as Speaker Jose de
Venecia Jr. faces moves to remove him. His reported contender, Davao
City Rep. Prospero Nograles, was expected but was absent at the
Palace meeting Sunday convened by President Gloria Arroyo.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the caucus
this morning was agreed upon during a luncheon attended by President
Arroyo, former President Fidel Ramos, de Venecia and other members
of the Lakas Christian-Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD).
The objective of the caucus today is to come up
with an “amicable” resolution to the leadership question ahead
of the House session later this afternoon, Bunye said.
Bunye added that the coalition leaders who will
meet today could resort to straw voting—either today or in the
coming days depending on what the attending party officials
decide—to settle the leadership issue.
Members of the coalition include the Lakas-Kampi
(Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino) coalition, the Laban ng
Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), National People’s Coalition, Partido
Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP) and the Liberal Party
faction affiliated with Secretary Lito Atienza of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources. President Arroyo belongs to Kampi,
which she founded.
Caucus organizers expect each party to send four
party leaders to Monday’s meeting, Bunye added.
Asked whether the President has changed her
earlier position regarding her support for de Venecia as Speaker,
Bunye said Mrs. Arroyo only listened to the suggestion of other
party members.
“The President wants this problem resolved
[and] that’s why she called for a caucus,” Bunye said. “This
exercise is meant to hear the sentiment of the coalition members.”
Majority Floor leader Art Defensor and Deputy
House Speaker Simeon Datumanong were the ones who suggested
convening a caucus to resolve the speakership row, Bunye said.
“Without a caucus, members could go ahead with
whatever plan they have and this would be the extreme scenario,”
Bunye said. “At least here, they could settle it amicably and
civilly as possible,” he added.
The Press Secretary denied reports that
President snubbed the Sunday meeting. He explained that Mrs. Arroyo
was unable to play golf with the Lakas leaders, because she had
attended Mass in the morning. But Bunye added that the President
attended the luncheon meeting.
Earlier, de Venecia said he remains confident
that he has the numbers to hold on to his post. He is serving his
fifth term as Speaker.
De Venecia said he has the unwavering support of
138 representatives, as against the 134 signatures his detractors
have reportedly collected in a manifesto calling for the speaker’s
ouster.
Problems in Lakas became public after the
Speaker’s son, Jose “Joey” de Venecia 3rd, testified in a
Senate hearing that the President’s husband, Mike Arroyo, brokered
the controversial—and now scrapped—national broadband deal. He
denied the allegations made by the younger de Venecia.
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