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By Efren L. Danao Senior, Reporter
Former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. faces
expulsion from the party he co-founded, if he testifies against the
Arroyo administration at the Senate inquiry into the controversial
broadband project, a party leader said Sunday.
Former Sen. Heherson Alvarez 3rd, executive
vice-president of Lakas, said testifying against President Gloria
Arroyo is incompatible with de Venecia’s position as president
emeritus of the administration party, Lakas-Christian Muslim
Democrats (Lakas-CMD).
“If he will speak against the Arroyo
administration, then he will have to do that outside the party so
things will be clearer,” Alvarez told The Manila Times.
De Venecia, a representative of Pangasinan, had
already declared that he will testify before the Senate blue-ribbon
committee in August to reveal what he knew about the scrapped
$330-million National Broadband Network deal that was awarded to
China’s ZTE Corp.
He added that what he plans to reveal would
bring down the Arroyo administration. De Venecia was present when
President Arroyo met with ZTE officials in Shenzhen, China, on
November 2, 2006, about six months before she witnessed the signing
of the broadband contract.
His son and namesake, Jose “Joey” de Venecia
3rd, was a losing proponent in the deal. The younger de Venecia had
testified at the Senate that the project was overpriced and riddled
with anomalies involving the President’s husband and a key ally.
Both denied any wrongdoing.
Before the signing, the President had pushed for
a build-operate-transfer scheme in undertaking the project. But the
deal signed involved a loan from China.
Alvarez explained that a testimony against the
administration is a case of fiscalization, “which is the job of
the opposition.” He said that while ordinary Lakas party members
can exercise a certain degree of independence, a high-ranking party
official cannot be given such leeway as they are supposed to tow the
party line, “in this case, to support the administration.”
“JdV’s post of president emeritus is too
high an office to take an independent stand,” Alvarez said,
referring to de Venecia by his initials.
Lakas created for de Venecia the honorary and
ceremonial post of president emeritus after he was removed as
speaker of the House of Representatives. He stayed with the party
and accepted the post despite parting of ways with the President.
De Venecia co-founded Lakas— with the late
Representatives Francisco Sumulong and Hilarion Ramiro Jr., former
Rep. Gualberto Lumauig and undefeated politician Rep. Edelmiro
Amante—as a vehicle for the presidential campaign of then Defense
Secretary Fidel Ramos. From an initial membership of 37 congressmen
in 1992, de Venecia turned it into the biggest political party with
the help of Malacańang.
Alvarez is confident that Lakas, in coalition
with Kampi, will remain as the country’s dominant party even after
2010, when President Arroyo’s term ends.
Mrs. Arroyo founded Kampi, or the Kabalikat ng
Malayang Pilipino.
The two administration parties are now
consulting with their regional leaders on their proposed merger,
with Lakas as the surviving party. They had just concluded their
second regional meeting in the Cordilleras, after a similar
gathering in Southern Mindanao. The next regional consultation will
be in Cagayan de Oro City in Northern Mindanao on August 8.
“Lakas-Kampi is seeking to institutionalize
the strong points of governance during the administrations of
Presidents Ramos and Arroyo. The party, not just the administration,
will pursue reforms,” Alvarez said.
“We want the merger to start from the bottom.
This is a democratic exercise,” he said.
He does not believe that the low survey ratings
of President Arroyo will diminish the chances of Lakas-Kampi in the
2010 elections.
He said the low acceptance rating of the
President “caused by perceptions of the moment brought about by
the global crises in food and fuel” would not affect Lakas-Kampi
“once the effects of her bold reforms are felt by the people.”
“She has confronted with boldness and
imagination these twin crises with alternative fuel programs,
subsidies, food production, more irrigation, and quality seeds. Our
economic growth has leaped to 7.9 percent under her watch, from 2.9
during Erap’s time,” he said. Erap is the nickname of former
President Joseph Estrada.
He also cited the breakthrough in the
negotiations with the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Alvarez is confident that a peace settlement will be signed before
the end of President Arroyo’s term, and that the next
administration will reap all the benefits of her “hard work.”
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