De Venecia faces mutiny from three House leaders

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. is facing an incipient mutiny that could deteriorate and shake his leadership in the House of Representatives.

The "mutinous" group is led by Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, Deputy Majority Leader Francis Escudero and Assistant Majority Leader Juan Pablo Bondoc.

It is supported by the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), the biggest bloc in the House after Lakas, with which De Venecia and his Lakas supporters had forged a partnership in June early in the fight for the speakership to eventually win the post.

Trouble for the Speaker began Monday last week when the House opened floor debates on the now-approved Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001.

De Venecia sidelined both Gonzales and Escudero. He prevailed upon the two not to do the floor leader’s job to obviate fireworks that could erupt between Gonzales and Escudero and the so-called "Gang of 5," a group of congressmen allegedly engaged in extortion activities.

Such fireworks could delay deliberations on and the approval of the anti-money laundering bill, the Speaker feared.

The two floor leaders felt that they were unnecessarily "sacrificed." They and their supporters also felt that the Gang of 5 triumphed and in fact gloated when Gonzales and Escudero were sidelined.

It would be recalled that Gang of 5 members were asking for the resignations of the two whom they suspected, albeit wrongly, to be the source of news reports about their alleged extortion activities. The five have denied that they are into extortion.

Matters took a turn for the worse for De Venecia last Wednesday. Bondoc, whom the Speaker asked to take over the floor leader’s job, was also sidelined like his two immediate bosses.

However, Bondoc’s case is unrelated to the Gang of 5 controversy. The protest against his doing the job of floor leader came from Rep. Raul Villareal, who, ironically, is a party mate of his in NPC.

Villareal had aimed for but failed to get a committee vice chairmanship, and he apparently was taking it against Bondoc, who was part of a screening panel for committee posts.

The Nueva Ecija congressman threatened to create trouble on Wednesday if Bondoc were not taken out of the floor leader’s job, prompting De Venecia to sideline him too.

Gonzales, Escudero and Bondoc feel that they do not deserve the "punishment" they got.

Gonzales and Escudero have told De Venecia that he can have their heads if he wants to, "if that is the price of pushing for reforms in the House."

This week, matters will come to a head when the three floor leaders reclaim their jobs even if roadblocks are raised by the Gang of 5 or the Gang of 1 of Villareal.

De Venecia will again have to do a careful balancing act, but this time, he will have to reckon not only with the protagonists but with his coalition partner, businessman Eduardo Cojuangco’s NPC.

The NPC bloc in the House, which is led by Cojuangco’s nephew, Tarlac Rep. Gilberto Teodoro Jr., has thrown its full support to Gonzales, Escudero and Bondoc.