All’s not well after all: De Venecia camp faces possible defections

All is not well in the so-called Rainbow Coalition.

Despite the facade of unity and strength, the Lakas-led coalition supporting the comeback bid of former Speaker and Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. is facing possible defections.

Yesterday, Rep. Exequiel Javier (Lakas, Antique), one of De Venecia’s supporters, told radio station dzRH that he and other Western Visayas congressmen are planning to desert the former Speaker’s camp for the group of Rep. Florencio Abad (LP, Batanes) and Rep. Carlos Padilla (LDP, Nueva Vizcaya).

De Venecia and his supporters are unfazed by the planned defection.

"We continue to reach out to our colleagues despite the fact that we have the numbers to seal JDV’s speakership bid," said Rep. Joey Salceda (Lakas, Albay), De Venecia’s chief strategist.

Javier said the former Speaker did not consult them when he entered into a coalition with the opposition Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

As if that were not enough, De Venecia even let NPC have a significant part in deciding committee chairmanships, he said.

"Para kaming na left-out. Ibang partido na ang may say, wala na kami (We were left out. A different party now has the say, not us),"" he added.

Javier was a member of the 9th and 10th Congresses which De Venecia led as speaker. He was chairman of the ways and means committee, the panel that tackles tax measures.

He was expected to bag the chairmanship of the same committee in the 12th Congress, but he apparently failed to get it. The Antique congressman is head of the tax division of a big Makati law firm.

De Venecia entered into a partnership with NPC early in the speakership race, giving him a commanding majority to seal his comeback bid.

NPC is the party founded and financed by businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. In the House, it is a solid bloc of more than 50 members led by Cojuangco’s nephew, Tarlac Rep. Gilberto Teodoro Jr.

De Venecia and his mainstream Lakas supporters have agreed to give NPC 15 committee chairmanships.

Reached for comment on Javier’s defection plan, Abad said his group would welcome any defector.

He said there are some more Lakas members who feel slighted by what is going on between De Venecia and Teodoro’s bloc.

As for the reported proposal of President Arroyo’s political advisers that the position of Speaker Pro Tempore be created for him to keep him and the Liberal Party in the pro-administration coalition, Abad said no one has yet discussed it with him.

He said if a formal proposal is offered, "we will look at what they mean by creating such position, taking into account the current leadership structure in the House."

Noting that the chamber now has three deputy speakers, he added that a Speaker Pro Tempore might just be superfluous.