WILL it be the wife, Gina, or the son, Joey, who will be in the running to replace former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. after he completes his last term in office as 4th District representative?

Both Gina and Joey have recently expressed the possibility of their respective candidacies in the 2010 elections.

Mrs. De Venecia, who customarily accompanied her husband but stayed in the background, has been noted to have lately started delivering speeches in public forums. She has also been previously encouraged by politicians before to run for public office.

Meanwhile, Joey announced in a Sunday forum last week that he is interested in vying for the position that will be vacated by his father.

Joey was in the national limelight when he turned whistleblower in the now botched ZTE-national broadband network deal which, he alleged, was marred by bribery and corruption involving, among others, the President’s husband.

This triggered a series of events that eventually led to the ouster of the elder De Venecia from the speakership and his falling out with the President.

“This issue is like a shadow that has been hovering over me and it has been repeatedly asked of me (whether I would run or not),” said Mrs. De Venecia who is also considering a senatorial post.

She said she may run either under Lakas, Nacionalista Party, former President Joseph Estrada’s ticket, or as an independent candidate.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, told The PUNCH in a separate interview that the De Venecia family should carefully weigh its political plans.

“If Gina de Venecia will run, I think she has bigger potentials for election as congresswoman. She has been here for sometime, running here, running there, going here, going there,” Cruz said.

At the same time, Cruz said Joey’s chances are promising, “but of course Joey will have to earn his own credentials in the district.”

“Experience in politics is not an assurance that you will be good let us have new blood, new faces, perhaps they’re still honest, straight and therefore do not know how to cheat,” he added.#

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