BY WENDELL VIGILIA
HOUSE Speaker Jose de Venecia yesterday
morning hosted 20 Lakas congressmen in his Makati residence to
get their reactions on reports that he would be ousted.
Senior deputy majority leader Neptali
Gonzales denied De Venecia was conducting a loyalty check
saying the Speaker personally wanted to determine if the
ouster threat was serious since he was in Jakarta when the
story came out. "Nakikibalita lang siya," Gonzales said.
De Venecia met with a separate batch of
Lakas congressmen Sunday night.
De Venecia met with the congressmen despite
his announcement Saturday that President Arroyo had told
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita to instruct the House
majority to keep De Venecia in power.
Gonzales said Reps. Nur Jaafar of Tawi-Tawi,
Pedro Romualdo of Camiguin and Munir Arbison of Cebu of the
Mindanao bloc were at the meeting.
He said Romualdo confirmed that Davao Rep.
Prospero Nograles was ready to assume the post of Speaker.
Nograles has said that while he is ready to
accept the post, he has nothing to do with the plot to wrest
the speakership from De Venecia.
Deputy speaker for Visayas and Cebu Rep.
Raul del Mar and Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella are
reportedly also eyeing the speakership.
The President’s congressmen allies
initiated efforts to remove De Venecia last September after
his son Joey accused presidential spouse Jose Miguel Arroyo of
bullying him into backing out of the $329 million national
broadband deal with China’s ZTE Corp.
Chief presidential counsel and Lakas
national spokesman Sergio Apostol said Speaker De Venecia
would stay on "as long as the President does not give the
go-signal to topple him. As of today, their (Arroyo-De Venecia)
relationship is cordial. If that can be sustained, he will
stay as a speaker."
Apostol, also Lakas director for Eastern
Visayas, described De Venecia as someone who is "good for the
party, good for the country and good for her administration."
He said the oust-De Venecia plot and its impact on the
ruling party could be included in its next meeting’s agenda.
– With Jocelyn Montemayor
