See what I Told You?

Just as soon as I predicted Jose de Venecia's downfall from the speakership of the House of Representatives, IT HAPPENED.

And just as I expected, JDV wasn't letting go of his position without spilling the beans on the administration that first put him into power and showered him with privileges, then dropped him like a hot potato.

Privilege speeches normally last for 10 minutes at most, but JDV took the opportunity to blast everyone he felt was responsible for his downfall in his one-hour privilege speech. (Yes, read it again: one-hour privilege speech.)

JDV did not mince his words when he dropped several bombs, beginning with the tampering of results of the 2004 presidential elections that extended Gloria Arroyo's term as Chief Executive. Then he proceeded to admit what he knows about the anomalous ZTE deal that concerned none other than the First Gentleman himself, Mike Arroyo. To emphasize the gravity of this issue, he noted that he and his son, Joey (the whistle-blower of the ZTE scam) received threats to their lives after the latter's revelations, and no one from the Palace tried to do anything about it.

Unfortunately, these bombs simply fizzled out with everyone whispering: "Why reveal these things only now?"

After enumerating all the pains he had gone through in his term as Speaker of the House, JDV wonderfully capped his fiery oration with a mild threat to the incoming Speaker (Prospero "Boy" Nograles), saying: "This could happen to you."

Inspite of everything, a total of 170+ congressmen voted that the seat of the Speaker of the House be rendered vacant. That is a substantial number, considering that the number of hands needed for this is only a little above 100.

Thus, at around midnight last night, Boy Nograles was sworn in as the new Speaker of the House.

*Sigh* In the end, a trapo still lords it over the House of Representatives in the person of Nogi who, I believe, will be much worse than JDV in terms of butt-licking the President and her henchmen. With this guy's rise to power, my predictions of renewed calls for Cha-Cha grow stronger. Who knows: the 2010 presidential elections may just be cancelled. (God forbid...)

I actually pity JDV. The way I see it, his political career is so over after this. Without the powers that be protecting him, he'll just be as vulnerable as a first-time pulitiko who has to be content with grabbing leftovers from pork barrel funds.

No wonder he's now considering aligning himself with the Opposition. That's probably the only group that will take him in at this point.

Such is the rise and fall of Jose de Venecia.

Doing a Julius Caesar

After a whopping five terms of office as Speaker of the House, it looks like Jose de Venecia's world is now crumbling around him. His own colleagues in Congress are doing a Julius Caesar on him, and the main antagonist in this comedy -- er -- political upheaval is the same man he literally groomed himself to become a formidable personality in the Administration: the honorable gentleman from Davao, Prospero Nograles.

After several attempts in the past to unseat him, Joe de V managed to stand his ground. After all, there was always Malacañang to back him up. However, with his own flesh and blood bringing out into the open the controversial ZTE contract anomalies said to be perpetrated by Malacañang henchmen, JDV's grave was suddenly dug. The old man is now being made to pay for the alleged "sins" of his son toward the powers that be.

And what impeccable timing these power-hungry leeches in Congress have! Finding that Achilles' Heel in JDV's political persona that was once protected by none other than the President herself, these "honorable gentlemen of the House" -- as they call themselves -- are now preparing for a political massacre of one of the longest-standing figures in recent Philippine politics.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not exactly a JDV fan. In fact, I'm not a fan of these "honorable gentlemen" who barely get anything done, and instead waste time, taxpayers' money, and their respective pork barrels on grandstanding and other whatnots. I should know: look what happened to our former congresswoman. Well, in her defense, she never did any grandstanding. In fact, she didn't do anything at all that would prove to be beneficial for her constituents in the Leyte province.

This recent skirmish in the House of Representatives only goes to show several things: first, that when blood relatives squeal on Malacañang, one should be ready for the death of his/her political dynasty. Second, that there are no permanent allies in politics -- only permanent interests.

I believe that Nograles and his allies do have the numbers to finally topple JDV. But considering this man's trapo nature, it's just going to be a case of one set of rascals being replaced by another set of rascals. Let's just see how much of a Malacañang lapdog he's going to be.

If the issue on charter change gets revived for the nth time in the House of Representatives under Nograles' term as Speaker, then my theory is proven: that Nograles has been bestowed with the all-mighty Malacañang shield of power.

And why not? 2010 is just around the corner.

As for JDV, well...there's always golf to come back to.