The House of Representatives of the Philippines will delay the floor voting to determine the fate of Speaker Jose C. De Venecia amid a drummed-up leadership row that was aimed to oust the 71-year-old Speaker.
Philippine Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye on Monday told reporters that the delay was meant to give rivaling camps more "consultation time" after a closed-down meeting of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with key legislators including De Venecia and his rival Prospero Nograles inside the presidential office.
"There will be no showdown today. Voting will be done tomorrow to give time for protagonists to have further consultations with their supporters," Bunye said on Monday.
The latest campaign to oust De Venecia was spearheaded Arroyo'stwo congressmen sons and members of her party Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) in the lower House last week.
Kampi president Luis Villafuerte previously claimed they had collected the supporting signature of 134 out of the 239 congressmen.
According to Philippine congress rules, replacement of the Speaker needs the backing of 121 House members.
De Venecia, now on his fifth term as House Speaker until 2010, is the president of Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, the largest bloc in the ruling coalition.
He and Arroyo forged an coalition in 2001 when Arroyo succeededdeposed Joseph Estrada as the archipelago country's president. De Venecia's influence in the lower House has helped Arroyo defeat three ousting bids at the Congress since 2005.
But their relation reportedly turned sour when late last year Joey De Venecia III, son the Speaker, openly accused the first gentlemen, Arroyo's husband Jose Miguel Arroyo, of pocketing profits from an intervened government project in which the Speaker's son has an interest.
De Venecia's opponents in the House, however, claimed that they wanted the Speaker gone for his inability to bring about reforms to the Congress not for his splitting from Arroyo.
Political observers said it is not difficult to see that Arroyowas not enthusiastic about keeping her once staunch supporter on the post as Arroyo's sons were among the forerunners in the oust De Venecia campaign and the president herself held back several times from stepping in to rein in the leadership row.
De Venecia on Monday said he would not accept resignation as a "graceful exit" and would rather see a fair House floor vote on the issue.
While repeating his confidence at having enough number of supporters behind him, De Venecia told reporters that he also received various invitations to join the opposition if he was voted out.
In a front-paged commentary, the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Monday warned the administration that "heavy price" could be paid for ousting De Venecia.
Source:Xinhua
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