A picture showing a ZTE representative, former COMELEC chair Benjamin Abalos, President Arroyo, First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, and former speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. in a golf course at Shenzhen, China

"How can pictures lie?"

Former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. asked this question Monday after First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo accused the congressman of lying for saying that the first gentleman was instrumental in granting the multimillion-dollar broadband deal to China's ZTE Corp.

In page 148 of his biography "The Global Filipino" to be released in the United States next week, de Venecia showed a picture of himself, President Arroyo, First Gentleman Arroyo, former Commission on Elections (COMELEC) chair Benjamin Abalos, and a member of ZTE Corp. in a golf course in Shenzhen, China.

"Why are we all in this picture? We were only supposed to have golf, only for me to find out that we're dealing with ZTE. I didn't even know that Abalos was part of the welcoming party. I was only with First Gentleman and President Arroyo. I was the only one who didn't know about this," he said in an interview at dzMM's "Dos por Dos." 

According to de Venecia, they were all sent to China in order to show ZTE Corp. that they were united in their proposal. Since he had no prior knowledge of the affair, he said that the meeting was clearly a "set-up."

"It was only Abalos [who stayed in China] who was doing the talking. But on our way back to Hong Kong after our lunch at ZTE headquarters, the first gentleman said that we should do away with [my son] Joey's [build-operate-transfer] proposal, and instead borrow $329 million from China. This was the turning of the tide," he said.

When asked about his former stance in defense of the President, the former speaker said, "I deeply regret it."

De Venecia is set to appear before the House Committee on Justice Monday morning regarding the impeachment complaint filed by his son. House Committee on Justice chair Matias Defensor said that de Venecia will be allowed to give his testimony in the hearing as he is the endorser of the impeachment complaint.

According to Defensor, committee members will be voting whether the impeachment complaint is sufficient in substance on Wednesday. The committee report, he said, will be released next week.

Where did the P500K go?

De Venecia confirmed that he was given P500,000 in bribes to protect President Arroyo from stronger impeachment complaints filed against her last year.

"They wanted me to transmit a bogus impeachment complaint, a very weak complaint against her filed by Atty. [Roel] Pulido so she could buy legal protection for one year," he said.

He said accepting Pulido's complaint would shield the President from succeeding impeachment complaints for a year, referring to the one-year bar rule in the Constitution.

As to where the bribes went, de Venecia assured the public that it has never been used. He said that the amount is still in his house, and he is planning to give it to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Archbishop Angel Lagdameo and Archbishop Oscar Cruz.

"According to one of my staff, an employee from Parliamentary Liaison Office of Malacanang, or the PLLO, was the one who gave the amount at my office. It was stationed at the Congress of the Philippines," he said.

De Venecia also disclosed that President Arroyo herself personally spoke to him regarding the matter at the music room of the Palace.

"Three or four times, the President has pressured me to transmit as speaker of the House this bogus impeachment complaint which is only composed of three pages, while the present complaint has about 100 pages which is really serious, and 400 pages of evidence or annexes," he said.

Why only now?

De Venecia said that it was a huge mistake on his part for keeping this matter a secret for the past year.

"[Former president Fidel V. Ramos] and I had an agreement that we'll convince President Arroyo to cleanse her government, reform Malacañang, and the Philippine society. But we have waited and waited, and nothing has happened," he said.

The former speaker mentioned that he has earlier sent a letter to President Arroyo, asking her to lead a moral revolution to cleanse her government. He said that he gave the President 100 days to think about it and to take action.

"But she didn't do anything. There were even threats against my life and against Joey...Maybe if I just kept quiet, I would still be speaker [of the House] until now, and I'll still be president of Lakas-CMD. If that would be the case though, I wouldn't be able to help [the Filipino people]," he said.