JDV re-elected unopposed

Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. of Pangasinan was elected unopposed yesterday as Speaker of the House of Representatives for an unprecedented fifth term, barely an hour before President Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Emerging from tumultuous proceedings, De Venecia said: “I accept the immense challenge to lead this chamber during these tough and demanding times.”

De Venecia took his oath before 25-year-old Rep. Sharee Ann Tan of Western Samar, the youngest member of the House.

“I can only repay the confidence you have invested in my leadership by committing to do my utmost, so that together, you and I, we can transform this chamber into the epicenter of our robust democracy,” he said.

De Venecia said the biggest challenge the House faces “is how to defeat poverty, how to keep our economic growth rate at seven percent and accelerate it to eight or nine percent, how to complete the peace process.”

“We saw things differently, but now our views will converge as we begin to buckle down to work,” he said.

De Venecia offered reconciliation to pro-administration allies who opposed his leadership but whose challenge fizzled out.

“That process was unprecedented in its ferocity,” he said.

“It was unmatched in its lack of consensus that politics – which is the art of the possible – traditionally guarantees,” he said.

“Now I extend a hand of reconciliation and friendship to those who were, only momentarily, my rivals.”

His critics were led by Representatives Pablo Garcia of Cebu and Luis Villafuerte of Camarines Sur, who belong to President Arroyo’s party, Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino or Kampi.

Kampi president Villafuerte, who launched Garcia’s bid to replace De Venecia, remained adamant. “This will be a turbulent 14th Congress,” he said.

Noticing that they did not have the numbers, Garcia’s supporters did not even nominate him, leaving De Venecia as the only candidate for Speaker.

House Secretary General Roberto Nazareno, who acted as temporary presiding officer, announced that 159 members voted for De Venecia with no negative votes.

Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna abstained.

Garcia’s supporters in the minority tried in vain to derail De Venecia’s election.

Rep. Didagen Dilangalen of Shariff Kabunsuan province set the tone for the proceedings by questioning Nazareno’s authority to preside over the opening session.

Nazareno told the House the Constitution authorizes him to act as temporary presiding officer pending the election of the Speaker.

However, Dilangalen said Nazareno was a bogus official since the journals of the 13th Congress did not show that was he was elected secretary general.

He questioned Nazareno’s decision to designate Iloilo Rep. Arthur Defensor as acting majority leader, and engaged anyone who tried to intervene to a debate.

The acting presiding officer had to order the sergeant-at-arms to bring the House mace to Dilangalen to restrain him.

At one point, Rep. Bienvenido Abante of Manila appealed to Dilangalen to give his colleagues a chance to speak, while an exasperated Rep. Antonio Cuenco of Cebu called for an “end to this circus.”

Garcia’s supporters had an inkling of the possible fate that awaited their candidate when De Venecia’s allies overwhelmingly voted down a Dilangalen motion to replace Nazareno as temporary presiding officer.

Some 160 House members voted to defeat the motion, while only 46, mostly from the minority, supported it.

A Garcia ally said the voting result prompted Garcia to tell his supporters to no longer nominate him for speaker.

Yesterday was the first time that the election of a speaker went past 1 p.m., when the House was supposed to adjourn to prepare for the SONA.

At 3 p.m., De Venecia was still addressing the House. Minutes later, they rushed the approval of a resolution adopting a similar Senate measure informing Mrs. Arroyo that Congress was ready to hear her SONA in less than an hour.

The House adjourned session at about 3:15 p.m.

Presidential Security Group personnel had to immediately clear the session hall and the galleries for a final security check.

Rep. Ronaldo Zamora of San Juan, who was voted by the opposition as minority leader, said the chaotic proceedings could have been avoided had the De Venecia and Garcia camps settled their differences.

“This is happening for the first time and is embarrassing for administration allies,” he said.

Irrepressible Dilangalen

“I will be a one-man army (in the House). I will still be with the opposition,” Dilangalen told The STAR when asked if he intends to join the camp of De Venecia.

Dilangalen neither confirmed nor denied reports that he had parted ways with ousted President Joseph Estrada,

He just “filed a leave of absence” as Estrada’s spokesman, but that he remains with the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, he added.

After a three-year hiatus, the Shariff Kabunsuan-Cotabato City lawmaker made his comeback by correcting Nazareno about the name of his new legislative district.

Dilangalen told fellow legislators that he is not just representative of Shariff Kabunsuan, but also of Cotabato City, and that Shariff Kabunsuan should always be associated with Cotabato City, or his Cotabato City constituents would be disenfranchised.

“It’s Shariff Kabunsuan with Cotabato,” he insisted.

Later, Dilangalen amused the crowd at the session hall when he started questioning the legitimacy of Nazareno’s authority, who he said was just “designated,” but not elected, by lawmakers in the plenary.

The secretary general’s authority has been traditionally “accepted by tolerance” even if “there is no showing in the (House) journal that the sec-gen was ever elected,” he added.

Dilangalen scored Nazareno’s “holdover” capacity in the previous 13th Congress.

When Nazareno designated Iloilo Rep. Arthur Defensor as temporary majority leader, Dilangalen also questioned it.

“There are now two questionable personalities because no election took place,” he said.

Abante, an ally of De Venecia, tried to butt in and questioned Dilangalen’s filibustering.

“There are more than 200 congressmen here!” he said. “You have been talking as if you are just the only one. Talking for 30 minutes is too long!”

Dilangalen stopped temporarily, and when the session was suspended, he shook hands with the second-term pro- administration lawmaker.

Agusan del Norte Rep. Edelmiro Amante, 74, a returning lawmaker and one-time executive secretary, clarified that the House does not necessarily have to adopt its rules upon the convening of the 14th Congress.

“The secretary general can preside because we are here for the welfare of our people,” he said.

“We should even be grateful that we are representing our people here.”

At one point, when the uncontrollable Dilangalen had been pestering Rep. Neptali Gonzales II of Mandaluyong, who couldn’t finish his explanation on the Nazareno issue, Gonzales asked that Dilangalen be bodily removed from the House.

House sergeant-at-arms Bayani Fabic, along with some security personnel, brought the mace (or the symbol of the House) in front of Dilangalen, which was a form of disciplinary action.

“No one can declare me out of order!” Dilangalen shouted. “I am raising a constitutional issue!”

Dilangalen was later declared out of order, but he managed to “expunge” the administrative sanction from the House records when things cooled down.

Dilangalen gained prominence in May 2004, during the canvassing of votes for the president and vice president, when Suzette Pido – a supporter of President Arroyo – passed a “shut up” note to him, as he was derailing the proceedings.

When asked for their reactions on the chaotic and tumultuous House proceedings, new Rep. Rex Gatchalian of Valenzuela said it was “interesting,” while Rep. Dan Fernandez of Laguna described it as “shocking.”

“In my personal observation, it was not really that chaotic,” said Gatchalian. “It was democracy at work.”

“Shocking” was the word used by Fernandez, whose actress-wife Sheila Ysrael attended the session.

Re-elected Rep. Abraham Mitra of Palawan said: “The House session had more fireworks than New Year’s Eve. Hopefully, it’s the kind of noise that heralds a productive year ahead.” – with Delon Porcalla