“Why only now?”

MondaY evening proved to be yet another dark, dark day in Philippine history.

Right at the House of Representatives, supposedly one the most important and honorable institutions in the country, the nation saw the face of Philippine politics at its ugliest.

Beyond the issue of whether or not our very own Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr., who has held the post as House Speaker the longest in history at five consecutive three-year terms, deserves to have finished his remaining two years in that office if only for the sake of seeming national stability, is the matter of how events led up to that day and how the proceedings went about.

There was so much political backbiting, maneuvering and scheming. And nothing was really about public policies related to the nation’s development. It was all about personalities, personal loyalties, and private profits.

But De Venecia himself, who is not just a seasoned politician but a statesman who is highly regarded in the international scene, not only failed to live up to the standard but raised more questions and doubts about his motive for “burning his bridges” the way he did.

By lashing at the President in the way he did, many perceived him as one who sounded nothing but a sore loser out for revenge, spilling the foul garbage of his former allies.

“Why only now?” was the oft-repeated reaction. Indeed, why only now?

But wait, there may yet be a day of reckoning, a day of redemption for the former Speaker. The “Why only now?” question  may  actually have a positive ring to it,  that is if De Venecia had indeed meant to signal that “now” is the beginning of real change in him and in the system, signs of the beginning of his vaunted Moral Revolution.

If  “only now” actually means he could now be expected to be the loudest whistleblower, unmindful of risks to  his personal safety and political career, that “only now” signals the emergence of a different and new politician, no longer the “Trapos’ Trapo”, the moniker that had long been used to describe him, then there lies the silver lining. 

So, let’s wait and see if Congressman De Venecia did right in spilling the beans just hours before he was formally axed or was he wrong to act like the fisherman’s wife, ranting to win sympathy votes and nothing else.

Till then, the question “Why only now?” hangs like a Damocles sword over Congressman De Venecia.

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