The Unlawyer

So it came to pass that the erstwhile friends and allies of the now-former Speaker Jose de Venecia (Lakas-CMD – Pangasinan) in the House of Representatives have finally struck and perpetrated what they have threatened for so long: JDV out, Nograles in as House speaker.

Ever the scrupulous gentleman – a weakness, as Manuel Quezon III claims, that led to his political downfall – Mr. de Venecia nominated his partymate and bitter rival Rep. Prospero Nograles (Lakas-CMD – Davao City) to take his former post. Manolo said thus:

“The great defect of de Venecia as a politician was revealed for all to see, when his often rambling speech kept returning to a complaint that he was speaking off the cuff, because he’d been assured -and believed- that he’d have until Tuesday to state his case to his peers. Obviously the Palace was not inclined either to keep its word or do him any favors, yet the man thought that a pledge was a pledge. In a nutshell, that is the great defect of truly traditional politicians -they believe that there are some lines no one will cross.”

In a society where utang ng loob is the coin of the realm, and the House being a microcosm thereof, this incident sadly reveals how debased this currency has become, and when push comes to shove, it’s every man for himself.

To many of this generation and those before, Mr. de Venecia, in his unprecedented four terms as Speaker of the House, personified traditional politics – a trapo [A portmanteau in English of the words traditional poliitician that forms the Tagalog word for dish rag - Ed.] in so many words – so I don’t think many will be sad to see him go, like The Warrior Lawyer for instance, who says that Mr. de Venecia merely received a dose of his own medicine.

Even Mr. de Venecia’s rambling valedictory speech, accusing the Administration of sundry crimes, was not taken seriously by listeners, if opinions sent to this morning’s AM talk radio shows are a guide.

“In his speech, Mr. de Venecia, on a warpath mode, also burned his bridges with the Arroyos, reminded how he has been instrumental in the political rise of the President, that his wife Georgina is the Arroyo sons’ godmother, and questioned many deals that need to be first cleared with the Palace or have been linked with the First Family.

“He claimed congressmen have to beg for their pork barrel funds to be released through the President’s two sons in Congress — Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” M. Arroyo (2nd district) and Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado “Dato” M. Arroyo (1st district).”

The younger of the Arroyo brothers explicitly denied this charge and insisted that Mr. de Venecia himself forced neophyte congressmen like himself to grovel and beg at his feet for budgetary allocations for their respective districts.

Truly Mr. de Venecia has burned his bridges.

It was also rather ironic to hear Administration officials say that Mr. de Venecia had it coming because of his ineffective leadership in the lower house, a stewardship that the very Administration itself was satisfied as he helped shepherd and deliver the votes necessary to pass the President’s pet bills.

At any rate, I think that Philippine businessmen are not especially alarmed at these turn of events, in the short term anyway. That Mr. de Venecia has managed to hang on to his former post is an achievement in itself, as the turnover rate of his lawmakers occupying similar positions in parliamentary bodies overseas is much more rapid, so the foreign business community should have no reason to be concerned. One must also take into consideration that the leadership of the various House committees were left untouched.

It will be business as usual.

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Returning to our usual business fare, Philippine treasury officials rejected bids for the 91-day and the 182-day Treasury bills at yesterday’s auction.

“”We don’t really need the cash. The yields were unreasonable. I don’t thing there is real interest for the paper. We’re studying the behavior of the market,” [Finance Undersecretary and Acting National Treasurer Roberto] Tan said.”

Investors usually run for the safety of government bonds during periods of stock market instability, so there must be something else afoot that explains why demand for these instruments seem to be lackluster.

Surprise, surprise: a leftist labor union expresses its grave concern about the effects of the appreciating peso on the Philippines’ textile industry. I hate being cynical but the more laid-off workers there are, the less dues-paying union members there will be and a shrinking base of recruits to boot.