Top House leader to face challenge as Congress opens

Manila: When Congress resumes today, the leadership of House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr is expected to be challenged, not by opposition congressmen, but by his coalition partners. This follows a reported cooling off of relations between him and President Gloria Arroyo.

There has been a lot of talk brewing in Manila for days that Arroyo's supporters are working to oust De Venecia, who has been caught between his loyalty to the president and his relationship with his son, De Venecia III, who has accused Arroyo and her husband of corruption in a broadband deal with a Chinese company.

No replacement

But other House leaders are trying to downplay such a scenario.

"I don't think there is any move to replace or remove the speaker from his position. That is, given all this talks about shake-up, it's not going to happen. I don't think so," Davao Representative Prospero Nograles told ANC television network.

Nograles, who was reported to have talked about the House leadership issue with Arroyo on Saturday, added that he did not sense any move to unseat De Venecia during the meeting.

Nograles' statements came after Nueva Vizcaya Representative Carlos Padilla confirmed the speaker was wooing administration congressmen to pre-empt moves to oust him ahead of the resumption of the session of Congress today.

Padilla said in a radio interview on DzMM that he had received information that De Venecia might hold a caucus with his allies to discuss the reported efforts to unseat him as Speaker.

Padilla also said the plan to oust De Venecia was gaining strength in the House of Representatives, adding that this could also be attributed to the reported dent in the relationship between the speaker and Arroyo.

On Friday, Mandaluyong Representative Neptali Gonzales II, an administration congressman, confirmed the moves to oust De Venecia. He said a number of Arroyo's allies were already dismayed over De Venecia's leadership.