“According to a source within the President’s entourage, the De Venecias were not supposed to join GMA in Singapore , but that they showed up unannounced in Singapore, just the same. ”
by Ducky Paredes
Does Speaker Jose de Venecia still have the numbers to stay on as Speaker? Probably. After all, he has a hold on many of the re-electionists who know that, as Speaker, Joe will do as he has always done, which is to favor the two-term congressmen over the first-termers and disadvantage the novatos, in many more ways.
Thus, Joe de V has his backers, too.
In fact, the Speaker has somehow insulated himself from the scandal concerning the alleged extortion ring composed of congressmen who were members of the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA) during the 13th Congress. He did this by announcing that he has ordered an investigation into the matter. When the investigation will begin is anyone’s guess and since all of the dirty dozen congressmen in the CA will no longer be in the 14th Congress, it is a fair assumption that whatever internal investigation Congress will attempt should quickly go nowhere!
At the same time, considering that, the De Venecia years at the helm of Congress have been marked by the incapability of the House to even just muster quorum to tackle important legislative measures, it may be too much to expect anything to come from this “investigation.”
In fact, if anything or anyone should be investigated, it ought to be Joe De Venecia himself over allegations that he has been misusing House funds during his four terms as Speaker.
Thus, with the sword of Damocles is hanging over De Venecia’s own head and over his bid for a fifth term as Speaker. Joe de V’s vow to get to the bottom of the extortion mess sounds too hollow to be believed by many congressmen especially the first-termers who want reforms so that they can hold their heads up high as members of a House of Representatives that they hope will be regarded more highly by the people than the last four congresses when congressmen have been at the bottom of the list in every political survey undertaken.
So threatened is De Venecia these days by the speakership bid of Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia, Sr., that Joe and his wife Gina gate-crashed President Arroyo’s recent trip to Singapore to get her to support him. According to a source within the President’s entourage, the De Venecias were not supposed to join GMA in Singapore , but that they showed up unannounced in Singapore, just the same.
But the De Venecias did not get what they wanted since the President merely reiterated her hands-off policy on the speakership race. De Venecia’s desperation also showed through the barefaced lie of the Speaker’s spear-carriers, Congressmen Eric Singson and Roque Ablan, who said that the President all declared — during separate meetings with congressmen in Vigan and Malacañang — that “she’s with Joe.”
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita have refused to confirm the claims of Singson and Ablan. A Malacanang confirmation would make a liar of Gloria Arroyo, or at the very least run against her official stand to stay neutral. With his hold on the speakership floundering, De Venecia has been resorting to deception to make it appear that he still enjoys the support of the majority of congressmen, as repeatedly sworn to by Manila Rep. Amado Bagatsing.
Bagatsing said De Venecia had a lot of congressmen sign on to his legislative agenda and busing others to Malacañang to meet with the President. The congressmen, including Bagatsing, were later shocked to find their names on a list of De Venecia’s claimed “supporters.”
Aside from Bagatsing, two other lawmakers who denied supporting De Venecia were Cebu’s Antonio Cuenco and Amelita Villarosa. Villarosa’s name was used by De Venecia’s camp in a press release reporting that five female legislators have vowed to vote for Joe.
While De Venecia is preoccupied with making the public and the President believe that he has the numbers, he has miserably failed to address the root causes of why so many of the young congressmen want him booted out as Speaker.
Foremost among these are: the all-time low trust and credibility rating of the House under Speaker Joe, his despotic control over House affairs, his capricious appointment of allies as committee chairs and, finally, the undue influence of his wife, Gina, at the House.
De Venecia cannot go around the fact that he is squarely to blame for everything that is wrong with the House of Representatives. For the good of the House of Representatives, there is probably no other way but that Joe must go!
* * *
When Honolulu begins exporting its garbage to the U.S. Mainland sometime this year, it will be the second time that Hawaii throws its problems out of what is regarded a Tourist’s Paradise. For more than ten years now, most of Hawaii’s prisoners have been housed on the Mainland.
The prisons are owned by a private firm – the Corrections Corporation of America – that now has 65 prisons that house more than 70,000 inmates in 19 states and the District of Columbia. For Hawaii, which has its prisoners in CCA prisons in Oklahoma, Mississippi and Kentucky, the newly-build Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona is specially for Hawaii’s prisoners with its staff of 300 serving Hawaii food and catering to Hawaii ways. Sagurao is a 1,896-bed medium-security prison.
It is a $95 million facility with stun fences, sophisticated alarm systems, x-ray machines, metal detectors to prevent smuggling of contraband and 24/7 surveillance cameras. It also has facilities for video conferencing so that family in Hawaii can communicate with inmates and for parole hearings. It will house both male and female Hawaii prisoners.
The State spends $50 million a year to keep its prisoners out of sight and out-of-State. Each time that the legislature takes up the matter and the idea of keeping Hawaii prisoners in Hawaii for the sake of their families comes up, this is defeated by community pressure. Just as no one wants landfills for garbage in their backyard, no one wants a prison in the neighborhood.
It kind of belies the idea of Hawaii as the Aloha (hospitable, welcoming) State, doesn’t it?
* * *
Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com
# # # #
hvp (06.28.07)
Post a Comment