De Venecia’s turn

clean up the cabinet? e yung matitino nga yung umalis. sinong natira? yung mga retiradong general na walang ibang career.

what can you expect of de venecia?

this guy is a political cockroach.

Nobody listens to JDV anymore. JDV is just a jester of the GMA court.

please, mga kababayan… wag kayong maniniwala dito sa sinasabi ni JDV… yung sinasabing nyang reform, hindi ba nya alam na yung mga umalis na nagpeperform sa serbisyo with integrity and professionalism???

hindi ako empleyado ng dbm, pero empleyado ako ng gobyerno… at yung austerity measures, sickening, pero, ganun talaga e!!… hindi ko kilala si boncodin, personally, but so much have been said about her. and she’s good. kahit nagkasakit na, silbi pa rin.

howell, mas gusto nyang makinig kina angelo reyes na wala naman talagang ang “public service” at “professionalism” sa kanilang diksyonaryo.

sabi ng bossing ko once, tahimik tong si JDV lately kasi nakarma na… namatayan na ng anak e!

humihirit na naman. God have mercy on him.

they’re setting the stage for a noli assumption (no pun intended). the us embassy rejects any extra-constitutional resolution, pimentel is amenable to a noli presidency, the LP seeks the resignation and if not the impeachment of GMA effectively setting the stage for noli as pres., etc etc.

this is not acceptable. it’s the system, stupid!

Its nearly over.
Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Cleaning up the cabinet…? How? When the one who’s suppose to clean it is full of dirt. Kapat talaga ng mukha ni GMA, dapat siya ang maunang magresign bago ung mga kaalyado nya.

hoy malaking tenga hindi ka na dapat pang paniwalaan kc style mo bulok….. mapupurnada na naman ang iyong sariling ambisyon na maging prime minister pag nawala si gloria. Mga kababayan huwag kayong magpadala sa mga matatamis na sinasabi ni tenga. Sumama kana din kay gloria na umalis. ALIS DYAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a sad, sad man. Still couldn’t figure out the signs that the heavens had been sending him. Saw his wife on TV “making sosyal” with guests as their daughter was burning to a crisp upstairs. Money and power, I think, does that to you.

apparently the young girl was not happy with her parents and felt quite neglected by them.

Excerpts from the SPEECH of SPEAKER JOSE DE VENECIA
during the 3RD YOUNG ECONOMISTS CONVENTION
January 24, 2004; Angelo King International Center

…We are pushing for a unicameral, parliamentary, federal system of government with elections once every 5 years which is the tradition in all the parliamentary governments of the world, instead of the Philippines’ elections once every 3 years; very divisive, very expensive, very graft prone & if you include the barangay elections we have elections once every 2 years. No wonder, so expensive, so divisive, so tension-prone and tension-ridden throughout the Philippines including all the barangays.

And to illustrate my point very rapidly, let me say that all across Europe from England in the north to Ireland in the north across Scandinavia, going south to Italy, to Spain, Portugal, to Greece, to Malta, to Cyprus in the Mediterranean, all of these nations, without exemption, all of them do not like the presidential system, all of them are parliamentary governments.

If you go to Asia, if you look at the three economic and political powers in Asia - China, Japan, India - all of them are parliamentary governments. If you go to the successful economic tigers in Southeast Asia - Singapore, Malaysia & Thailand - all of them are parliamentary governments. In the case of Malaysia, it has a unicameral, federal parliamentary system. If you go further in South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand, all of them are parliamentary governments. If you look at the political landscape from Eastern Europe to Western Europe, from the nations that emerged as democracies with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the emergence of a Democratic Russia, the emergence Democratic Eastern and Western Europe, all of these nations without exception, ayaw nila ng presidential system, all of them are parliamentary governments. If you look at the Baltic Republics at the Baltic Sea, the three of them, all of them are parliamentary governments. If you look at all the govts that emerged in Central Asia and seceded from the old Soviet Union – Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, etc. etc - all of them, with the exception of Tajikistan, are parliamentary governments.

So, the record is overwhelming. I cannot understand why 13 senators of the Filipino people continue to oppose parliamentary federal system. People in Mindanao – Muslim Mindanao, Christian Mindanao, Lumad Mindanao – they are jubilant every time Pres. Arroyo and we spouse a federal system, a parliament, unicameral system. The people in the Visayas, the people in the outer regions, the distant regions, the people in the Bicol regions, in the Cordilleras, in the Cagayan Valley, those distant from Manila, they will be the single biggest beneficiaries of a federal system of government against an overly central government in Manila.

So the due political experience of all these nations is very clear. The only outstanding exception is the United States of America. USA presidential system of govt, a very strong central govt, a federal system of government, but in the USA they can afford a presidential system and a 2 house parliament because they have more than 2(00) years of experience in presidential democracy. They have a very strong middle class and they have a major safety net. They have a federal system. Kaya maski na crisis sa Washington DC in America, it is OK. Remember when they did not pass the budget in America and the US Embassy close down here because they don’t have a budget 4 years ago during the Clinton presidency? It was ok, why, because Texas is strong, California is strong, New York is strong. Why is it ok? All of these states are federal states and therefore not dependent on the central government in Washington. Whereas, here in the Philippines if there is a crisis in Manila, it affects the 79 provinces, it affects the 115 cities; it affects the 42,000 barangays through out the Philippines.

So the Americans exported to the Philippines in good faith and in all sincerity a presidential system of government and 2 houses, a bicameral system. But they did not export to us a federal system of government whereas in America they have a presidential system and they have a bicameral legislature but they have a federal system, which we do not have in the Philippines. The US, because of the Monroe doctrine, because of the Pan-American system, exported presidential democracy and a bicameral legislature to all their states, neighbor states just like in Central America and South America. So anong nagyari? Nag-away ng nag-away ang mga senador at congresista - katulad dito – hindi lang sila nag-away, kaaway din nila ang presidente nila . Sa Latin America, what happen? You have seen all these chaos, paralysis, tension and conflict in the civil governments of South America. What happen? They took over power in Central America - from Mexico to Montevideo to Uruguay – all of them became banana republics and became dictatorships - which is what is happening in the Philippines. Eight coup attempts during the presidency of Cory Aquino, now several coup attempts because of this structure of government, this constant battle, gridlock between the Senate & the House and the President of the Philippines. So that in the Philippines there are 3 programs - that of the Senate, of the House, and of the President of the Philippines. What happens if you are a President of a corporation, what happens if you have 2 board of directors? That’s exactly the problem of Pres. Arroyo. She’s got two boards of directors – the House of Representatives & the Senate. How can a businessman, a President of a company propel his company forward if he’s got two boards of directors? Mas mabuti pa yung mga barangay system sa Pilipinas, they only have 1 barangay councils, not 2 barangay councils. Mabuti pa ang mga provincial governments, at city governments at municipal governments, they have only one barangay council or provincial council or city council. But no, the President of the Philippines, by the very structure of government we inherited, we have two boards of directors, the Senate & the House.

Right now, I will share to you my experience. We have passed in the House of Representatives, as Speaker of the House, 1 thousand bills, approved in the House of Representatives, all pending in the Senate. One thousand bills, imagine the incredible cost that the Filipino people, that your father and mother and yourselves spent to pass 1 thousand bills in the House of Representatives still pending in the Senate & our Congress ends in February 6, a few days from now. We’ll go to the campaign, we will return on June 7 to proclaim the newly elected President but no Congress for law making. What happens to those bills that we approved in the House of Representatives pending in the Senate? We have to start all over again and file them again from day 1, all over again as if they were never filed at all.

Of these one thousand bills, 850 are local bills. These local bills may not be important to the Senators but it’s important to you because a local bill for example says an Act to build a high school in Brgy. so and so in Butuan; an Act to create a small rural health clinic in Brgy. so and so in Sulu. So for the senators, bale wala yan, nothing. But for the people living in the rural slumps of these neglected regions of the nation, these are very important bills. Out of these 150 bills, national bills that are pending of the 1 thousand bills, these are major bills: the Housing bill, the national railways bill, the securitization bill, and the Hernandez-Sotto bill in order to enable our 30,000 farmers to mortgage their land reform land in the commercial banks of the Philippines. The Transco bill that would have enabled the National Power Corporation to build power plants in Mindanao & the Visayas that will be in crisis two years from now, we will be in need in the Visayas & Mindanao. We’ll have blackouts and brownouts in the Visayas & Mindanao two years from now.

Imagine if we have a parliamentary system, if we have a 1 House parliament & a federal system like Malaysia, it will take us 15 to 30 days to make a bill and make it into law. Now, it takes three years. Three years at wala pa. Because we started in 2001 in May, we will expire in May 2004, these one thousand bills almost three years old, no chance of seeing the light of day. They have died and we have to re-file them all over again from day one as if they were never filed at all. That’s why Gloria Macapagal Arroyo - brilliant, capable, hard working, courageous, matapang - how it so difficult for her to move forward because of this gridlock, this paralysis, this stalemate, this Mexican stand off between the House & the Senate. And this is not only the paralysis of the House and the Senate, the stalemate of the legislative and the executive, whereas, under the parliamentary system, the executive & the legislative are one. In parliamentary system, the President and the Congress are one.

In the unicameral system, the Senate & the House of Representatives, the senators have P200 million of pork barrel each a year. The congressmen have P65 million pork barrel each a year. But it is ok because you see the congressmen are putting the roads, bridges, and schools in your cities and in your towns. But the senators, where are they putting their P200 million?

I propose that we abolish the Senate and the House of Representatives, our House, and we merge them into one house and it will be called the House of Parliament so that we will have a one unicameral house. We save about 10 to 15 billion pesos. We avoid paralysis, we avoid tension, we avoid conflict, we avoid the Mexican standoff and it propels the nation forward. Imagine the bills, the economics… actions, one of the reasons why these “sin taxes” were not approved because we don’t want to approve anymore any bill in the House of Representatives because we know that we will go into the battlefield in the House but nothing will happen at the Senate. It will not become law. We will going to be attacked by the columnists left and right on these “sin taxes” but we know it will never pass the Senate, like the one thousand bills which did not pass the Senate.

So it is this structure, it is not just the leadership, not just the personalities, not just the individuals. Yes, we need a change in the personalities, in the individuals but most importantly, we need a change in the structure and the system of govt. We need to go from a presidential to a parliamentary system. They say, Jose De Venecia is pushing for the parliamentary system because he cannot run as President and he wants to run as Prime Minister. This is baloney. I have been fighting for a parliamentary system now for 12 years. This is a long drawn out protracted conflict. This is a marathon. But we have won the 1st round. Pres. Ramos tried to change the system but he only reached 1st base. Pres. Estrada tried to change the system but he only reached 1st base. I am happy to report to you that we have already reached almost 4th base now. It was approved by the House of Representatives overwhelmingly by more than 90% of all the congressmen. It has been approved by more than 90% of all the governors of the Philippines; more than 90% of all the barangay officials, of the municipal and city mayors. Religious groups who were once against it are now in favor. Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was once against it, is now a champion of the unicameral parliamentary federal system for Luzon, Visayas & Mindanao.

Romy Neri and I, three years ago, wrote this, the economic action plan called 747. We call it 747 so that it’s easy to remember. 7% economic growth for 7 years because our arithmetic tells us if we can grow for 7% for 7 years, on the 7th year going towards the 10th year the poor people of the Philippines start moving and crossing the threshold into the middle class. This is the only hope for the Philippines. This is the only chance but we cannot achieve this without changing the structure of government, without changing the structure of the House & the Senate, without changing the structure of the Presidency, without changing the structure from a unitary system to a federal system of government.

They say, “Mr. Speaker, your 747 is too ambitious. It is not possible. It cannot be done”. When I was Speaker for the 1st time in 1992 with Romy Neri as Director Geneal of the economic platform staff, our rate growth is ½ of 1% - meaning to say 0.5%. Under Pres. Ramos and when we formed the rainbow coalition in the House and we brought about the 6 political parties of the House, it went up to 2% to 4%. And when the Asian financial crisis exploded upon us we were about to hit 6%. So it can be done.

“Ah, Mr. Speaker, still very ambitious”, how about China with 1 billion 300 million people? They were able to make rates of growth of 7, 8, 9. Last week, they declared 9.1% for China under a population 15 times bigger than the Philippines. And if you go to the eastern seaboard of China from Shamen in the South, Shen Jen all the way towards the Yang Tze River and towards Shanghai and beyond, they are doing 15, 17, 18, 19%.

“Ah, but Mr. Speaker, you’re talking about a dictatorship”. True, China is a dictatorship. But what about India, the second largest nation on earth with 1 billion people, the largest democracy on this planet? How come they’re able to do 5, 6, 7, 8%?

It’s that system. It’s the political will. It is the change of structure. You need a parliamentary federal system of government backed by strong political will, and the work ethic and the discipline of the people. This goal for a major achievement (can be done) if we change the structure of government.

I am very ashamed to tell you that in 10 days Congress will close down. We had hoped that before Christmas this would have already been achieved – the parliamentary system - and a constituent assembly could have been called already. By calling a constituent assembly the elections in May 10 would have already been parliamentary elections. You will still elect a President so don’t worry. Kaugalian nating mga Filipino na dapat i-elect natin ang gating mga presidente. But at least the President with reduced powers would now… powers would be going to the parliament, powers now going to the cabinet, powers now going to a strong political party, powers now going to a team.

Unfortunately, the Senate said no. Many of them were running for president. Many of them were running for Vice President. Many of them are running for reelection as senators. They are not willing to give up their perks. So I told Pres. Arroyo two weeks ago, you must promise me that in your 1st 100 days as reelected President of the Philippines, you will call immediately for a constitutional convention if that’s the people want or call for a constituent assembly of the Senate & of the House to finally consider a unicameral parliamentary federal system of government including an amendment to the economic provisions and including elections in the Philippines only once every 5 years. She said yes. We will shift the country to a unicameral federal parliamentary system of government, something that would be appreciated by the people of the Visayas, by the people of Mindanao, by Southern Luzon and by Northern Luzon because we believe this is the final and last hope of the Filipino people. Then we can achieve rates of growth of 7%. Then we can move from a 3rd world society to a 2nd world society, to a 1st world society. Lee Kuan Yu, when I 1st visited Singapore 40 years ago, when I was minister of the embassy in Vietnam, Singapore was poorer than Cebu. When I went to Malaysia for the first time during the days of Tungku Abdul Raman, founder of modern Malaysia, to the days of Mahathir Mohammad until his successor with whom we have lunch last week in Macañang. Badawi, now Singapore has graduated from a 3rd world society, to a 2nd world society, to a 1st world society. Malaysia has graduated from being a 3rd world society to a 2nd world society and is now targeting by the year 2020 when it will finally achieve 1st world status. This is the vision that I would like to share with you, the Young Economists of the nation. This is the challenge that Romy Neri and I are presenting to the Filipino people that this indeed is the true structure of change, the only hope and salvation to the Filipino people. Konrad Adenauer Foundation, one of the great social and economic foundations of Europe; Germany, federal system; parliamentary system in Germany. Going out of the ashes of war and now building one of the great economic miracles of modern time. Their organization is pushing for a shift to a parliamentary federal system of government n the Philippines.

Those who refuse to understand, those who are blind and deaf, those who refuse to recognize the due political realities in Europe and in Asia that the Philippines, the sick man of Asia, the only odd man out in Asia when all about us have shifted to a parliamentary, unicameral, federal system. Our own Pres Arroyo, an economist, an intellectual, have said yes. This is the only hope and the final hope for the Philippines & the Filipino people.

Let us join hands and together let us push for a unicameral, parliamentary, federal system so that the Filipino people can graduate from a 3rd world economy, to a 2nd world economy, and finally to a 1st world economy.

He is worst than the opposition. Gusto lang niyang maging prime minister ng pilipinas. Hindi kasi siya manalo sa national election kaya gusto niya ng parliamentary form of government. Mas madali niyang mabili ang mga politicians kaysa boto ng mga tao.

de Venecia is the epitome of what a trapo is. someone always on the look out for what will serve his interest. he knows for a fact that he can never win a national election yet he is salivating for the presidency for god knows how long. the only way to do it is by shifting to a parliamentary form of government because he knows that with a house packed with his rats, he can be prime minister without any sweat.

I agree with u peregrine0925, it’s the system. But our most urgent task now, is deposing the pretender in malacañang. I too is not for Noli, but we can not allow a power vacuum in the palace. The genuine opposition should move fast and should be able to present a viable and acceptable alternative NOW, otherwise we will be overtaken by events. In fact, Gloria’s stubbornness, is going our side while we are still consolidating our forces. Had Noli accepted the failed coup, and established an alternative office and formed a new cabinet, get the support of the military and the church, we could have lost by default. Gen Abu had already declared nuetrality on the issue, but they can’t wait for so long.

Joe V, please dont aspire to become prime minister in the parliamentary form of government. Its enough for you to become speaker of the house. The people does not want you to lead the nation as our leader. Period

Thats karma for you. JDV sacrificed his daughter for his greed. Bad choice on his part. Guess thats good in a way just to spare the daughter from being corrupted by the father. JDV, ermita, reyes hmmm all past military yes?? One wonders tuloy whose running the show si gloria ba?? o puppet master ramos?? Pushing for parliamentary is a good idea. But not if its going to be influenced by ramos JDV and the other trapos! pag di kayo nakialam dun lang po tayo pumayag sa con-con.

JDV the most “promising congressman”. Promise nang promise.

On Masha’s comments; HAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAA!
Very funny beacause they’re all true.

Sori my spelling sucks. I have big fingers. I keep typing two keys at once.