Palace unfazed by De Venecia testimony
By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 17:49:00 11/20/2008
Filed Under: Impeachment, Politics
MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang is not at all worried about what its erstwhile ally, former House Speaker Jose De Venecia III, will say when he testifies before a congressional committee that is hearing an impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Opposition lawmakers had pinned their hopes on De Venecia, whom they described as the "most credible witness" in the case, owing to his former close ties with the President.
"I don't think there is a cause for worry," Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Anthony Golez told a news conference at the Palace Thursday.
"All the members of the Committee on Justice will have their share of time to speak. He [De Venecia] is like any other congressman, whether he will argue for or against impeachment," Golez said.
De Venecia's son, Jose III, filed the complaint against the President over the alleged overprice of the country's botched $329-million deal with China's ZTE Corp. for the national broadband project.
The young De Venecia's claim that First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and former elections chairman Benjamin Abalos tried to bribe him so that his company, Amsterdam Holdings, would give up its bid for the broadband project in favor of ZTE Corp., caused ties between the President and his father to sour, leading to the elder De Venecia's ouster as House speaker in January.
De Venecia was speaker when the pro-Arroyo majority in the House of Representatives junked yearly attempts to impeach the President since 2005, on allegations of corruption, human rights violations, and election fraud.
|
