|
House Speaker Prospero Nograles on Thursday chided his predecessor,
Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. for imposing his own version of
moral recovery on anyone, much more on President Gloria Arroyo.
Nograles said it would be unfair that the
ousted speaker insists on his moral revolution advocacy without
having the matter go through a consultation with other government
leaders, which could have been done when de Venecia was still the
House leader.
“Former Speaker Jose de Venecia can’t give
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo an ultimatum threat to accept his
version of a moral recovery program drafted by him alone without
consulting the House leaders as Speaker or as Lakas-CMD
president,” Nograles explained.
De Venecia is pushing his moral revolution
advocacy as a win-win solution to get rid of graft and corruption in
government. The former House Speaker wanted President Arroyo to lead
such a call.
But as far as Nograles is concerned, there is
need for leaders to consult with the party he leads and the people
they represent, since the Philippines is a democratic country.
“Technically, he must first call a House
caucus to adopt it. As president of Lakas he has to get the
approval of the National Directorate to adopt it. Since he did
neither, he speaks only for himself and finds no formal approval
from either the House or our political party,” Nograles said.
The new speaker pointed out that implementing
reforms is a continuing process that all the branches of government
is now addressing as part of their short and long-term programs to
bring government closer to the people, especially in resolving
the issue of corruption.
“And most of his motherhood proposals have
already been addressed both by the executive, the legislative and
the judicial branches of government. We can’t do everything
overnight. It is a long and sometimes painful process which we
all must do together for the sake of our people and future,”
Nograles concluded.
-- Maricel V. Cruz
|
