174-35-16

At a cordoned section of the hall in front of the platform where the speaker of the house would stand up to preside the session and to symbolically bang the gavel, Representative Jose de Venecia finally realized that he will no longer be given the privilege to suspend or adjourn the session of the lower house. Not anymore.

February 5, at 12:55 am, the last congressman stood up and explained his vote. After which de Venecia was officially ousted by his colleagues and he couldn’t do anything about it. With a sullen face and defeated heart, he humbly stepped down and nominated Davao Representative Prospero Nograles to the throne.

I watched how the turn of events unfolded in front of me. But unlike the impeachment trial of the then president Joseph Estrada, this ‘mutiny’ in the congress lacked the drama and the emotional element of a soap opera. The event today was predictable and bland. When congress resumed its session yesterday, it was already expected that a new speaker will be elected before the session adjourned. Frustrated groups in the lower house had been trying to unseat the speaker for years.

I didn’t plan to get hooked to the long and boring process of voting to vacate the position of the speaker. I just arrived from an internet café because the broadband was down and I needed to send important mails to my colleagues. Well the voting started at 4pm and because there were more than 220 members of the house of congress and each member was given 3 minutes to explain his or her votes, the process took a very long time.

Watching this event was not at all painful and sad. Watching de Venecia’s facial expression, as he listened to the comments and remarks of his fellow representatives, was quite interesting. Perhaps he may be puzzled as to why he was being overthrown. Perhaps he knew why he’s being made to step down. Perhaps he’s wishing that they would still make him the Speaker of the House.

I was waiting for de Venecia to make some last ditch effort to hold on to his position. But I realized that it was in his privileged speech before the voting began that he rocked his boat and defended himself from the issues that were hurled to him before. It was soon after Rep. Abaraham Mitra of Palawan had moved for the position of the speakership to be vacant, that JdV attacked the president and her family, with several political issues and corruption.

But it’s 174-35-16.

I think it was painful to hear de Venecia talk about his achievements as a Speaker of the House for several terms. He enumerated his accomplishments at the time when he was only asked to nominate a fitting congressman for the position. It took him some time to nominate because he talked about the projects he had done, the reforms that he had carried out and efforts he had made to improve the image of the Lower House.

To him, it’s an accomplishement to raise the floor of the assembly hall of the Batasang Pambansa by at least six inches. It’s an accomplishment to lay out the communication network inside the house so that each congressman could be linked through the laptops issued to them. In JdV’s point of view, it was an accomplishment to build a gymnasium and to make some savings on the some other projects pertaining to house of congress.

But not everyone was happy. Most of them were not listening. He may have had some projects done but then some congressmen had none. The representative from Basilan and lady congressman from Taguig-Pateros received nothing for three long years. Most of 174 lawmakers who voted yes wanted change. And change it was that happened in early Tuesday morning.

At 1:30 am, de Venecia saw Speaker Nograles take his oath in front of the former governor of Cebu, Pablo Garcia (his suspenders were quite awful to watch through his Barong) and he listened well to what the congressman said. Nograles did not forget to mention him. JdV heard him say “Thank You” for all the reforms and the projects that he had begun. He heard the speaker speak no promises. And he listened very well to what Nograles said.

One can only guess what’s on de Venecia’s mind when he listened to the speech. “What have I done wrong to merit this kind of distrust?”, “what have I done to make my colleagues lose their confidence in my leadership?”, “could this be because I went against the president and attacked her and her family with issues of corruption” or “were my eye bags really that heavy and large or were my ears jutting out from my temples far and wide like an elephant?”

“It’s time to get back to work!,” Prospero Nograles said. Applauses and howls soon followed. JdV had come to his senses. It’s the end of his political career. For Nograles, it’s an uphill path ahead.

My impression about Nograles is that he’s a no-nonsense, serious kind of a person. His experience in congress and/or in handling key committees in the lower house may have weighed in much to earn a nomination from the ousted speaker. And he was voted upon unanimously. I just do not know how effective Nograles or de Venecia was in their districts. I wonder what  the Davao City mayor’s reactions would be.

Even so, a change in leadership does not necessarily produce a positive result in terms of raising the respect and credibility of the Lower House. It’s a challenge for Nograles now to reform the monkeys and the crocodiles in the House of Representatives. Otherwise, it’s pointless to have a 174-35-16.