New Speaker Nograles denies he’ll be Palace puppet

After a tumultuous session that lasted nine hours, the House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to unseat Pangasinan’s Jose de Venecia Jr., its longest-serving Speaker, and installed his party mate, Davao City’s Prospero Nograles, in a move widely believed to be a maneuvering of Malacañang.

Shortly after midnight, the House voted 174-35 to declare the speakership vacant, with 16 abstentions. De Venecia himself nominated Nograles, who went unopposed, thus making the vote "unanimous". The move to unseat De Venecia was three votes more than the 171 projected by Nograles's supporters before the start of the session. 

De Venecia had served as Speaker for a total of 13 years since 1992, his term broken only in 1998 when he ran for President but lost. His hold on the speakership had faced numerous threats, but only Nograles’s bid succeeded.

However, throughout the session that started Monday afternoon and ended shortly after midnight Tuesday, it was clear in the speeches of congressmen that they were choosing not between De Venecia and Nograles, but between De Venecia and President Arroyo.

Makati Rep. Abigail Binay, daughter of United Opposition head and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, noted that, “It is obviously a fight between the Speaker and the First Family.”

'REFORM BLOC' 

The Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), however, insisted that they wanted to replace De Venecia because they wanted a better way of running the House committees and more transparency in handling the chamber’s funds. This call for changes in the House is the reason Kampi, founded by President Arroyo and funded by her husband, called itself the “reform bloc” and had been at the forefront on putting up challengers against De Venecia.

Serious attempts at unseating De Venecia started only in the last quarter of last year, after his businessman son, Jose de Venecia III or Joey, testified in a Senate hearing that the President’s husband had links to ZTE Corporation, a Chinese firm that wanted to overprice its national broadband contract with the government by US$200 million. Joey said First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo told him to “back off” when his company tried to have a slice of the project. He also said that Mr. Arroyo’s close ally, then Commission on Elections chair Benjamin Abalos, got a P200-million bribe from ZTE.

Although the people funding and moving to unseat De Venecia were obviously doing so on behalf of the First Gentleman, it was only on Monday night, in an impromptu speech, that De Venecia directly accused Mr. Arroyo of undermining him. He also accused the President’s two congressman sons of hoarding the lawmakers’ share in the public works fund in an effort to control the House on their mother’s behalf.

De Venecia, who in the past frustrated the opposition’s efforts to impeach President Arroyo on grounds of electoral fraud and corruption, indicated that there could be truth to those allegations. (Click here to read “JDV on President’s Family: Like a Mafia.”)

JOINING OPPOSITION? 

Interviewed by reporters after his speech, De Venecia laughed when asked if he would join the opposition after spilling the beans on the First Family. Although he confirmed that his speech was a declaration of “war” against President Arroyo, he said he will only join the opposition in battling corruption. “I will join the opposition to denounce corruption in this administration.”

He also pointed out that, “I’m still president of Lakas-CMD up to now.” Lakas is the dominant party in the ruling coalition. It adopted Ms. Arroyo in 1998 as vice presidential candidate, although Arroyo had her own party then, Kampi. Lakas is set to have a national convention on Thursday.

On the other hand, the new Speaker Nograles denied that he would be a puppet of Malacañang because he owes his position to the Arroyos. “There are just three congressmen allied with the President here. He has his two sons and his brother-in-law. Four if you add me. We can be easily overwhelmed by the majority.”

Nograles, a Lakas stalwart, said it was possible that he and De Venecia would be friends again after the bitter fight. After the speaker’s seat was declared vacant, it was De Venecia who nominated Nograles.

“I accept the challenge [by De Venecia] to continue reforms in this chamber,” said Nograles. He will hold a series of meetings starting Wedneday.

NEW RULES 

The casting of votes on whether to declare the speaker’s seat vacant took about five hours because new House rules required nominal voting in unseating a Speaker. All 225 congressmen present had to announce their votes one by one at the podium and had the option to explain their votes up to three minutes each.

Previously, a move to declare a position vacant can be decided on a viva voce. The louder camp—whether the ayes or the nays—wins the vote. The rules were changed only in November.

Days earlier on Monday, Kampi president and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte called on De Venecia to opt for a “graceful exit” to avoid a “bloody” confrontation on the floor. De Venecia chose to let the congressmen declare their votes openly.

In a caucus of coalition leaders in Malacañang Monday morning, Nograles reportedly showed De Venecia a manifesto signed by 146 congressmen expressing loss of confidence in him. It was a last attempt to avoid an open voting in the House in the afternoon.

During the session in the afternoon, De Venecia delivered an unprepared speech reminding the President of her political debts and accusing her and her family of “bribery, corruption, abuse of power, and arrogance,” after coalition partners broke their agreement that the voting on a new speaker would be delayed until Tuesday afternoon.

Shortly after the casting and explanation of votes began, text messages from House members and operatives circulated, saying that “many’ congressmen who intended vote against declaring the speaker’s seat vacant were changing their votes to a ”yes” because they were turned off by De Venecia’s speech against the First Family.

Only a few did. Before the session started, Kampi’s Villafuerte said 171 were voting against De Venecia. By the session’s end, or after the anti-Arroyo speech, only three votes were added to that—174 voted for Nograles.

Among those who admitted that they changed their minds after De Venecia assailed the President were Camarines Sur’s Arnulfo Fuentebella, Bataan’s Herminia Roman, Isabela’s Edwin Uy, and Iloilo’s Raul Gonzalez Jr.

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