Like father, like son?

[caption id="attachment_109" align="alignleft" width="350" caption="L-R: Arvin Antonio V. Ortiz, JDV III, Jed I. Bete, and Christine Camus"][/caption]

In the midst of the NBN-ZTE scandal and despite death threats, Jose de Venecia III, son of then House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr., had been making campus tours as though he is a telemarketer trying hard to sell his product. Not surprisingly, his product sold like hotcake.

 

On March 9, 2008 when he came in Davao City, student leaders were invited to have a dinner with him. Christine Camus, then SSG President-elect of HCDC, asked me and my friend Jed to accompany her since her VP was attending a forum which was underway that time. Held at Assumption College of Davao, the dinner started at around 8:00 pm. Student leaders from ADDU and UP Min were invited as well. Among the visitors were Joel Virador and Jeppie Ramada---both are from Bayan Muna.  

 

Together with the Assumption sisters, the younger de Venecia entertained some questions. One thing that lodged in my mind was when Jed, with no-holds-barred, asked de Venecia why he let the cat out of the bag.

[caption id="attachment_110" align="alignright" width="331" caption="Dinner with JDV III which was attended, among others, by Joel Virador and Jeppie Ramada---both are from Bayan Muna"][/caption]

JDV III groped for words. Then he managed to give a few intelligible words; the most memorable were: “Because I am a Filipino.” Or words to that effect.

 

The older de Venecia might find himself in a similar situation. Recently, Jose de Venecia, Jr. released his book, “Global Filipino: The Authorized Biography of Jose de Venecia, Jr.” written by Brett Decker. There, he talked, among others, about the corruption in the government he himself propped up. Excerpts of the book were published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

 

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The question still lingers. Why only now? Someone should ask the older de Venecia why he is exposing the misdeeds of the people he once avidly defended. Like his son, is it because he is a Filipino; and as a Filipino he is duty-bound to do so? Or is he only piqued? Whatever, there seems to be no reconciliation in sight between GMA and JDV.

 

But who knows? In this country where the impossible becomes possible and today’s enemies become tomorrow’s friends, nobody really knows.