Mitra said that he expects from Nograles a "floodgates of reforms with Nograles’ term as Speaker, which began Monday night. Mitra said the number of congressmen who voted against De Venecia and who voted in favor of Nograles speaks volumes about leadership styles of the two House leaders.

The calls for House reforms, says Mitra, crossed party lines:

"That majority of the lawmakers, including known rabid supporters of De Venecia, opted to heed the higher calling of public interest before personal relations, proves the overwhelming desire for House change, 174 yes-35 no-16 abstain.

"With Nograles, the House is looking forward to genuine reforms not hinging on promises but matched with actions."

Mitra expects Nograles to initiate other reforms, among them: One, provide "equal treatment to lawmakers; Two, implement transparency; Three, assert the House’s independence from external meddling but establish cordial relations with co- equal branches of government; Four, allow efficient cooperation in pushing for national agenda; Five, equitable and timely distribution of countrywide development funds, regardless of party affiliation; Six, more efficient and expeditious deliberation and passage of important legislative bills.

Mitra noted that Nograles said, in his speech Monday midnight: "I can’t make promises I can’t keep but I accept the challenge to implement reforms."

The Davao city congressman, he added, has all the credentials to make for a good House speaker. Aside from the fact that Nograles is now on his fifth term, he knows the peculiarities of the House of Representatives, having been committee chair, majority leader and head of the House contingent to the Commission on Appointments.

A graduate of Ateneo de Manila University’s School of Law, Nograles placed second in the 1971 bar examinations with a grade of 90.95 percent.

After four years of practice and involvement in human rights cases under the Marcos regime, the Philippine Jaycees named Nograles as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men in 1975.

In 1985, he joined the Cory Aquino for President Movement and actively campaigned for her in Mindanao. Before that, Nograles joined the Justice for Aquino, Justice for All (JAJA) Movement in 1983 shortly after the assassination of former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr.

He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1987.

Mitra says that, unlike de Venecia, Nograles is well loved by his peers in Congress.

"Mitra, whose father was a former Speaker, notes: "Speaker Nograles can be a good leader to carry our reforms as against someone whose reputation is beyond salvage, whose wheeling and dealing trademark that literally brought the House down to its knees and who is no longer attuned to the values the much younger 14th Congress wants to instill in the House"

The fall from grace of former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. could not have been more pathetic and painful to watch over national television Monday night. Given 10 minutes by his colleagues to say his piece, De Venecia harangued Congress and the entire nation with nearly an hour of pure vile, recriminations and tantrums.

Rather than aspiring for the epitome of statesmanship, JDV’s vicious attack against his former allies and Malacañang was the verbal equivalent of his being dragged kicking and screaming from his Speaker’s chair.

The putrid accusations that spewed from De Venecia’s mouth were the very reason cited by many of his party mates from Lakas-NUCD in changing their votes from ‘No," to preserve the status quo; to "Yes," declaring the Speaker’s seat vacant.

De Venecia condemned corruption in government as if he was not involved in scandals like his son, Joey de Venecia’s attempt to collar the government’s national broadband project through, according to witnesses, the influence of the Speaker’s office.

How about the money De Venecia owed the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) who repatriated workers his company recruited for jobs in the Middle East contracts that eventually caused them grief? Many have not been paid decades later.

How about the commission said to have been pocketed by De Venecia for brokering the NorthRail project? How about the scandalous PEA-Amari deal that had political influence written large all over the deal.

The question in the minds of many people was how come De Venecia came up with his protestations only when he had been kicked out as Speaker by his colleagues who were fed up with his patronage politics, lack of transparency in the use of House funds, and his playing favorites?

Several of the over 100 neophyte congressmen lambasted De Venecia for treating them like doormats, like they did not exist, like they were nonentities. Even De Venecia’s staunch defenders in the past had harsh words for him.

Why can’t you just step down quietly? Why couldn’t you have behaved more like the late Senator Neptali Gonzales or even Senator Edgardo Angara who graciously stepped down as Senate president without even putting the matter to a vote? These, in so many words, were the questions posed by Rep. Neptali Gonzales III to De Venecia.

One congressman put it succinctly when he said De Venecia’s hold on the Speakership was only as good as the confidence the majority of congressmen had in him. When it was lost, De Venecia should have taken the pink slip by accepting the fact that the job of Speaker is the "highest casual" in the House.

So what was the outburst all about? Television cameras showed a livid De Venecia and panned to show the collective dismay of congressmen to his outbursts and paroxysm.

If one could read the minds of the congressmen, they must have been collectively saying: "Why have we allowed this brat to lord it over this chamber for over a decade? Why were we unable to see his true color until now?"

Before the Monday showdown that led to Davao City Rep. Prospero Nograles ascending as the first House Speaker to emerge from Mindanao, De Venecia’s guns were all ablaze, threatening to bring down Malacañang with him.

But Malacañang merely brushed the threat aside by saying just bring it all on, file your cases in court if you really have the goods and if there is more than mere hot air behind your threats.

The House is rid of JDV; now, let us see what Prospero Castillo Nograles, Jr., otherwise known as "Nogie" to his district can do with his time on the Speaker’s rostrum.