Former House Speaker Jose de Venecia yesterday said he is prepared to expose widespread corruption within the Arroyo administration.

De Venecia told foreign correspondents that Arroyo's two sons, Diosdado and Juan Miguel, brother-in-law Ignacio (Neg. Occ. 5 th district congressman) and husband Jose Miguel Arroyo bribed legislators using public funds to oust him from the post he held for 13 years.

Rep. Ignacio Arroyo Jr., in response, told the DAILY STAR “We don't bribe, only he (de Venecia) does, he bought his way into the speakership five times.”

Ignacio Arroyo said Rep. Prosperpo Nograles ( Davao City , 1 st district) did not bribe himself into the speakership.

“Why should we bribe for Nograles, where's the logic there?” the Negros solon asked.

The move, de Venecia said, was a "personal vendetta" because his son blew the whistle on an overpriced telecoms deal between the government and China 's state-run ZTE firm in which certain officials allegedly were promised kickbacks.

De Venecia said the statement of Senate witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr., who surfaced from police custody yesterday, was a vindication for himself and, his son who exposed the alleged anomalies surrounding the $329-million national broadband deal network deal with ZTE.

"In exposing the scandal, the immediate outcome was my ouster from the speakership and now they are going for my ouster from Lakas,” de Venecia added.

He said he would use the floor of the House to outline in detail what he described as "corruption in all units of the government."

De Venecia, who until Monday, had been speaker for 12 years, said he would offer "first-hand" knowledge and evidence of shady deals, and stressed he would volunteer to testify against the first family if Congress launched a full investigation.

"They have no choice but to investigate," said de Venecia, who remains among one of the most politically powerful figures in the Philippines .

"We will oppose all attempts against bribery and corruption," he said, naming Arroyo husband, two sons and brother-in-law as the people who worked to oust him.

He said the four men used "public funds" to bribe congressmen into voting to unseat him in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

An overwhelming majority of the House voted to replace de Venecia with close Arroyo ally Prospero Nograles after a marathon session that went past midnight Monday.

Apart from alleged corruption, de Venecia promised he would also divulge details of vote-rigging during the May 2004 election that Arroyo won by a slim margin.

Following the 2004 vote, opposition House lawmakers tried to impeach Arroyo after a recording of a phone call emerged between a woman sounding like the president and an elections officer who appeared to be conspiring to rig the polls.

Arroyo has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but never denied she was the woman on the tape.*AFP/CPG

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