IT’S a bitter pill to swallow but it’s reality staring him in the face.
Constituents of Rep. Jose C. de Venecia who was ousted from the House speakership last month say they still love him and support him but in the same vein, proclaim they remain loyal to President Arroyo.

This consensus emerged during De Venecia’s consultation with political leaders of his own district recently, the first one he held since he was unseated as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

All of De Venecia’s staunch allies including Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. and Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez of Dagupan City; Mojamito Libunao, Rodolfo Columbres, Napoleon Sales and Hermino Romero, mayors of San Fabian, San Jacinto Manaoag and Mangaldan, respectively, said they cannot just turn their backs to the President.

Except for Columbres and Romero, the other mayors of the district were most visible during President Arroyo’s visit to Binalonan last February 16 and joined a luncheon meeting with the Chief Executive at Binalonan Mayor Ramon Guico, Jr’s house,

Earlier 28 mayors affiliated with the Pangasinan Mayors League – which is headed by Guico –signed a manifesto expressing their full support for President Arroyo in view of the new challenge posed against her administration.

Libunao, one of de Venecia’s most loyal supporters and vice president of the league, said this is not debatable because the President and the former Speaker are not anyway running against each other for the same position in an election.

At the same time, the 31 barangay captains of Dagupan led by Lino Fernandez, president of the Liga ng mga Barangay Federation, also presented a resolution expressing their gratitude to de Venecia for supporting them in their projects.

The manifesto stopped short however of expressing full support for De Venecia and the moral revolution he is espousing.

In their meeting, the former Speaker assured the barangay captains that he is not reneging on his earlier pledge to fund their proposed projects under his own Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). An attempt to contact the congressman at presstime to get his views failed as he was reportedly in the United States for some speaking engagements.