JDV says his ties with GMA even below zero

DAGUPAN CITY – Former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. told local reporters here the other day that he was being generous with the President when he said their relation is zero.

“It should even be below zero because she had me ousted as speaker and she had me ousted as president of the party (Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats),” he said.

Asked what he meant by zero he said, “No relations, no communications.”

The former Speaker said it was Mrs. Arroyo and her husband, First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo, who should be faulted for what happened to him.

He said he has written her two letters, one on the moral revolution which he proposed the President should lead, and second the “assassination” letter against him and Joey (his son) to be investigated.

Joey’s testimonies implicated some government officials, including the President’s husband, in alleged kickbacks in the $329-million national broadband network (NBN) deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp., which the President consequently cancelled.

Since then, the De Venecias claim they had been receiving death threats.

“But up to now she has not replied (to my letters),” he said.

Despite what happened between them, De Venecia said he is still praying for the President, hoping she will change.

“She must put an end to bribery, scandals and corruption in government,” he said.

“This Holy Week should be the beginning of a nationwide national soul searching and a determination to do what must be done. It should not be mere lip service,” he added.

He noted that all the President should do is to “cleanse her Cabinet, cleanse Malacañang and cleanse her family.”

De Venecia said their long years of friendship and alliance all went to waste because it was the President’s fault.

“Maybe God wants to use me as an instrument in another way, as an instrument of change. I still have to do many things and maybe still expose many wrongdoings in many areas of the government,” he said.

He warned, “They should not be complacent because we are just starting.”

He added that protest actions and calls for Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation are mounting, even reaching the provinces now. He said Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz is arranging a forum with ZTE-NBN whistle blower Rodolfo Lozada Jr. on April 4. But if she remains callous, he said, “That’s her own lookout.”

“We have to be very, very careful because the protest movements, together with the mounting prices of petroleum and rice, is very, very difficult,” De Venecia said.

He added that even after his ouster he has not lost his good standing with the international community as shown by his various invitations to speak in political forums abroad.

“As a matter of fact my role is increasing,” he said, adding that aside from his position as president emeritus in Lakas-CMD he is still the chairman of the standing committee of all the political parties in the International Conference of Asian Political Parties.

During his different speaking engagements abroad, De Venecia said he always presents the political situation in the Philippines “but without washing dirty linen offshore.”

“As I’ve always said, politics must stop at the rivers’ edges. We should not be exporting our dirty linen beyond the three-mile limit, not even beyond the Spratlys,” he said.