MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) Administration congressmen ganged up on former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. after he accused President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of bribing lawmakers and linking her to the national broadband network (NBN) scandal, with his successor saying he was “clearly sourgraping.”

"My feel is that the show was clearly sour grapes...and Shakespeare should have written: ‘Hell hath no fury than a Speaker scorned.’ All of these events narrated by him happened during his watch as Speaker of the House. And the joke is the Philippine song ‘Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang [Why Did You Come Just Now]," Speaker Prospero Nograles, who replaced De Venecia in February this year, said in a statement.

Agusan del Norte Representative Jose Aquino II accused De Venecia of using the impeachment hearing to "market" his newly-published book, in which he details his purported knowledge of how the NBN deal was awarded to China’s the ZTE deal and the alleged bribery of House members to endorse a "sham" impeachment complaint against the President in 2007.

"He should stop using Congress to market his unsaleable autobiography and prop up the image of his son Joey [Jose III]," Aquino said.

In "Global Filipino: The Authorized Biography of Jose De Venecia Jr., the Visionary Five-Time Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines," by US journalist Brett M. Decker, which is to be launched in Washington this week, De Venecia claimed Arroyo had a role in the "backroom negotiations" that favored ZTE.

De Venecia was one of the seven presenters at the “recital of facts” during Monday's hearing by the justice committee to determine sufficiency of substance of the fourth impeachment complaint against Arroyo.

He had also endorsed the complaint.

He expressed dismay against the "rampant, wide-scale corruption" in the country that he said turned House members into "commodities."

But the President’s son, Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel Arroyo, said it was not fair for De Venecia to brand House members and accused the former Speaker of protecting his "at the expense of our family."

The younger De Venecia is an official of Amsterdam Holdings, the company that lost its bad for the NBN contract after Arroyo allegedly decided to make it a government-to-government deal instead of a build-operate-transfer scheme.

De Venecia III was also the original whistleblower on the alleged overpricing and bribery that accompanied the awarding of the NBN contract.

Negros Occidental Representative Ignacio Arroyo, brother of the First Gentleman, said until now, De Venecia is still bitter over losing the top post in the House.

He said he does not expect people to believe De Venecia because of the former Speaker’s alleged "credibility problems."

Isabela Representative Rodolfo Albano III said De Venecia's revelations had no" probative value" because his statement during the impeachment hearing "showed that there was no crime committed by the President."

Zamboanga del Sur Representative Antonio Cerilles said De Venecia's statements were just meant to push the political ambitions of his son.

Other administration solons also disputed De Venecia’s story that the President asked him to refer the “sham” complaint by lawyer Ruel Pulido to the House plenary in 2007.

Representative Matias Defensor, the justice committee chairman, said he did not remember Arroyo asking De Venecia to bring the complaint to the House members so that it could get moving.

But Defensor said he did not think the chief executive had to ask the then Speaker to do such a thing.

“I see no reason why somebody has to ask him to follow the Constitution,” he said.

He also did not hear De Venecia saying the Pulido complaint was a sham.

What he remembered, said Defensor, was De Venecia telling Arroyo he did not want to be the one to refer the complaint out of delicadeza (propriety) since it involved the national broadband network deal to which his son was linked.

Majority Floor Leader Arthur Defensor also said he could not remember if Arroyo directed De Venecia to forward the complaint filed by Pulido.

He said De Venecia spoke first and said he did not want to refer the impeachment complaint to the plenary.

The House committee on justice heard on Monday the recital of facts from pro-impeachment solons, including De Venecia, who have been trying to convince their colleagues of the complaint’s sufficiency in substance.

The latest complaint, now endorsed by De Venecia, was filed by the former speaker's son, among others.

Members of the majority are expected to counter Tuesday all the allegations against Arroyo.

One of the majority solons, Albay Repersentative Edcel Lagman, acknowledged there were three new issues presented -- the supposed bribery in Malacañang, the Mt. Diwalwal mining contract with China's ZTE Corp. and the Quedancor loan controversy.

“But that does not mean to say they are valid grounds already,” Lagman said.

Lagman also said the rest of the claims were just rehashed.

He added that many of the statements made on Monday were not considered ultimate facts and were “meandering beyond the complaint,” and that statements made that were not in the impeachment complaint could not be considered in determining the sufficiency of facts.

The endorsers said their cause was buoyed by the decision of De Venecia to finally speak up.

“With these clear, convincing evidence especially now with what speaker Jose De Venecia has divulged, it is incumbent upon us to say that the evidence tells us something, once and for all, whether in fact President GMA [Arroyo’s initials] should be impeached,” Bukidnon Representative Teofista Guingona III said.

But not everybody was impressed.

Defensor said not all of the allegations successfully linked Ms Arroyo to any wrongdoing, and even downplayed De Venecia's much awaited statements.

He said the strongest among the allegations was the claim of Representative Teodoro Casiño that the Northrail project had no approval from the Monetary Board, but even if such an action was unconstitutional, it did not necessarily mean the President is culpable.