Former speaker attests to Arroyo Bribes: Philippines

This is from the Inquirer.
De Venecia was a former speaker of the house and an Arroyo ally. No doubt these accusations will probably not result in any action against Arroyo. Arroyo already has the house well under her control. The accusations are symptomatic of the extent of corruption within the Arroyo administration. Arroyo is also trying to push through constitutional change so that she can remain in power longer.

De Venecia: ‘Arroyo bribes total P100M'
Money was to protect her from impeachmentBy Leila Salaverria, Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.Philippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 01:19:00 11/25/2
MANILA, Philippines—Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. Monday accused President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of spending as much as P100 million in bribes in October 2007 to buy herself “legal protection” from moves to impeach her for at least a year.
Nine months after he was booted out as Speaker of the House of Representatives, De Venecia finally delivered on his promise to expose irregularities in the Arroyo administration, testifying at the start of discussions on the substance of the fourth impeachment complaint against her in three years.
He told the House committee on justice that Ms Arroyo had a hand in the bribery-tainted $329 million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp., in unexplained delays in the NorthRail project and in the giving of cash gifts in connection with last year’s impeachment case against her.
De Venecia’s testimony marked the first time that the charges against the President have been elaborated on in Congress. Ms Arroyo’s dominant allies killed the previous ouster moves in the House even before details could be discussed.
De Venecia told his peers that the impeachment complaint filed by his son Joey was an opportunity to use their consciences and cleanse the image of congressmen as “commodities for sale.”
“Everybody is for sale in this country, even when we go to our districts, many of the citizenry are for sale. Their votes are for sale. Where will the country go? Now is the time to start cleansing ourselves and our nation,” he said in his 40-minute testimony.
He spoke of an invitation made by the President to him and other congressmen and local government officials to a breakfast meeting in Malacañang where the cash gifts were handed out on Oct. 11, 2007.
“In that meeting, many were given P500,000 in bags of cash. I am not saying all of the congressmen. Many of the congressmen are not guilty. But many received P500,000 bags from President Arroyo and I was not there because I knew what was going to happen,” De Venecia said.
“President Arroyo paid, spent hundreds, maybe a hundred million pesos, including gifts to governors which were admitted by (Bulacan) Gov. JonJon Mendoza and (Pampanga) Gov. Ed Panlilio ... (Manila) Congressman Beny Abante and Cebu Rep. Tony Cuenco and (Deputy Speaker) Amelita Villarosa.”
Large-scale bribery
“My God! The President is spending a fortune just to buy legal protection for one year. This bribe money to congressmen and local government officials was her way of purchasing legal protection for one year because of the Supreme Court decision that an impeachment case can be only filed for one year,” De Venecia said.
He said he met the President on that day at 11 a.m. in the Malacañang music room where he was asked to transmit what he described as a “bogus and sham” three-page impeachment complaint by lawyer Roel Pulido that preempted the “more serious complaint” by San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora and Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico.
De Venecia’s bag of P500,000 cash, which was delivered to his office that same day, would be forwarded to the committee as exhibit A.
“This is large-scale bribery and corruption, as if we members of the House are commodities for sale. Please use our conscience if we want to cleanse this country, this government and this Congress,” he said.
Not a single rail track laid