DAGUPAN CITY – Two days after he was unseated after long years of reign as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Congressman Jose de Venecia, Jr. of the fourth district of Pangasinan declared he is now a free man who just won his freedom.

“I now feel free from the clutches of Malacañang, free from what you call freedom from fear, freedom from stress, freedom from too many problems and freedom from anxiety,” he said in an early morning patch phone interview over the radio from his Makati City residence.

Congresman De Venecia said he thanked the Lord and the Blessed Virgin of Manaoag (Pangasinan) for making him feel exhilarated, adding that he now feels well because many problems of the nation were removed from him.

After the nominal voting in the House of Representatives where 174 congressmen, 56 of them from his own Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats, voted for his ouster, he said he now feels stronger and relieved of all the pressures attendant to he position of Speaker.

He said he thinks he can continue his battle against corruption which is now winning much support from both the church and civil society.

“We will continue our crusade, our call for moral revolution which we feel is now getting more all-out support from religious and civil society leaders,” he said.

In the interview, the congressman said he, his wife Gina and sons Joey and Christopher now all feel very good having gone through the most difficult challenge of his career.

Although De Venecia was ousted by his own colleagues as their Speaker, he nevertheless feels proud to become five times Speaker of the House of Representatives which was unprecedented in the history of the country.

Being relieved of the burdens of the many problems that doggedly confronted him when he was still the Speaker of the House, the lawmaker said he can now sleep well and attend to his constituents in the fourth district of Pangasinan more closely.

At the same time, De Venecia announced that the 15^th anniversary of Lakas CMD slated on February 7 has been postponed indefinitely in their talk with former President Fidel V. Ramos, the party’s chairman emeritus.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is the party chairman while de Venecia is its president.

He said right after his speech in the House of Representatives, before congressmen voted on a measure seeking his ouster, former President Ramos who had been his ally ever since, called him up and congratulated him for what he said.

Another who called him up, he added, was former President Joseph Estrada, who defeated him in the 1998 presidential battle, bishops and priests of different denominations.

In the Speakership battle, he gave special thanks to Congressman Victor Agbayani who stood as the only lawmaker from Pangasinan who voted “no” to the House resolution declaring the position of Speaker vacant, and to Congressman Mark Cojuangco of the fifth district for registering abstention in the voting.

He described Agbayani and Cojuangco as very principled politicians.

Those who registered affirmative votes were Rep. Rachel Arenas of the third district who belongs to Lakas CMD; Rep. Conrado Estrella III of the sixth district, who is with the Nationalist People’s Coalition, Arthur Celeste of the first district who is with Kabalikat ng mga Mamamayang Pilipino; and Robert Estrella, Jr., brother of Conrad, who is a party list representative from Abono.

He also thanked those who came to Congress to give him moral support during the darkest hour of his career.

They were led by Mayor Alipio Fernandez, Jr. and Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez of Dagupan; and Mayors Herminio Romero of Mangaldan; Mojamito Libunao of San Fabian, Rodolfo Columbres of San Jacinto and Napoleon Sales of Manaoag. (PNA)