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The face-to-face confrontation between ZTE scandal whistle-blower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada and the main characters in the controversial national broadband network (NBN) project shown on ABS-CBN over the weekend was so lopsided that one didn’t have to think hard to know the poll survey results at the end of the show.

Though he was outnumbered five-to-one (“one against the mob” as Lozada put it), the “probinsiyanong Intsik” easily demolished the credibility of former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos, national police chief Avelino Razon, DOTC undersecretary Lorenzo Formoso III and deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez during last Friday’s “Harapan”.

The online poll survey showed that 92% of the television audience believed that Lozada was telling the truth, and only a mere 8% doubted what he was saying.

This survey result is very telling on the level of trust and confidence that the Filipino people have on the current administration.

When four heavyweights are no match to an amateur pinweight with little experience in talking before a nationwide television audience, it only spells one thing for the national government: trouble.

From the time scientific polling was developed by George Gallup, the world’s leaders have depended heavily on poll surveys to get a pulse reading on the public mood.

Every leader knows that his or her administration can rise or fall depending on what the people at large felt.

Even in the Roman-era, emperors tried to appease angry publics by staging gladiator fights and divert their attention from their dissatisfaction and failure of governments to deliver on their needs.

No leader can just dismiss the results of a poll survey.

With this lopsided result, one gets a strong sense about a government on the verge of collapse.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo needs a miracle to survive her remaining 27 months in office, and this early, she can be certain that once she leaves office, she will be met by a slew of criminal charges arising from the massive corruption taking place under her watch.

Mrs. Arroyo will have nobody else to blame but herself for this political debacle.

The opposition will feast on her like vultures swooping down and picking on a fresh carcass in a desert.

There’s not going to be enough gunpowder to scuttle the leaking ship that is the Arroyo administration, but the explosive revelations of former Philippine Forest Corp. chief executive officer Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada have hit the presidency so hard that it’s going to limp its way to completing its term in 2010.

Lozada’s testimony before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee on the $329 million ZTE national broadband network scandal proved what the Filipino people have known all along: that there’s large-scale corruption at the top levels of the government, and the First Gentleman, Mike Arroyo, is at the center of this universe.

The ZTE deal was just one of the many projects where the hand of Mike Arroyo was obviously behind the maneuverings and backroom deals so that favored suppliers and contractors corner the deals, of course, with a substantial amount of kickback going to the bank account of the FG.

Lozada’s coming out sent the Arroyo administration into a state of panic. The President’s trusted lieutenants desperately tried to get him out of the Senate’s hands so that he can’t be forced to testify, but they couldn’t get their acts together, and as a result, the script became disjointed and their stories conflicted with each other.

Incredible and unbelievable are two words that immediately leap to the public mind to describe the statements coming from Malacanang and the President’s lieutenants.

This is always the problem when a regime has so many dark secrets and every time there’s a leak, the ship’s crew scurry about, screaming and running, with no clear direction on what needs to be done. Even the President cannot possibly know how much damage each leak is going to cause, and that only adds to the confusion and panic.

In my estimate, the revelations of Lozada are not enough to trigger another round of people power that would oust Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. But the Filipino people will certainly not forget this episode, and they will exact vengeance through the ballot in 2010. If the Lakas-CMD ticket managed to win a few seats in the May 2007 elections, the Filipino electorate will be unforgiving the next time they cast their ballots.

The situation is not entirely hopeless for President Arroyo. She could still win public sympathy and respect by throwing out Mike Arroyo from the country like she did three years ago. She could also crack down on notorious public officials whose names have become synonymous to corruption. The President shouldn’t panic. Not at this time. She should remain cool and make hard decisions.

Poor Joe de Venecia.

He thought he could always get away with blackmail.

This is how Joe de Venecia, or JdV, has been able to stay on as House Speaker for the last seven years. He used his clout and influence to keep the tenant of Malacanang, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, hostage. His strategy was simple: keep a sword of Damocles in the form of impeachment hanging over the head of Mrs. Arroyo.

When the “Hello, Garci” scandal broke out following the May 2004 elections, in which serious charges of election cheating put the victory of Mrs. Arroyo under question, JdV did a good job herding the majority bloc congressmen into declaring her the winner over Fernando Poe, Jr.

That earned him almost eternal gratitude of Mrs. Arroyo. JdV strengthened this feeling of gratitude by stonewalling on several attempts to unseat Mrs. Arroyo through impeachment. He fortified his position by making the President understand that her survival, especially in light of her floundering approval and trust ratings, was completely in his hands.

Perhaps JdV thought that he could always get his way all the time under an Arroyo presidency. But greed and lust for wealth changed the equation. His son, Joey, had long been pushing for a multi-billion peso contract for the country’s national broadband network, with then congressman Rolex T. Suplico, as an accomplice. This was going to be the biggest trophy in JdV’s long reign in power.

Then something snapped. The national broadband network (NBN) deal that Joey de Venecia had worked so hard to corner with nothing but his kinship to JdV was literally snatched under his nose. The giant ZTE communications company of China bagged the contract for a dizzying price tag of $329 million. The financial windfall that Joey de Venecia had dreamed about slipped through his fingers. ZTE had better connections in Malacanang.

Joey couldn’t accept defeat, and went straight to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee to spill the beans and accuse First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo of masterminding the award of the grossly overpriced contract to ZTE. JdV raised his hands in a show of helplessness, saying his son was beyond his control, and could not possibly restrain him.

Nobody really believed him. Certainly not the Palace. Not Mike Arroyo. Nor the Arroyo children Mikey and Dato, both congressmen.

And so the Palace played its unseen hands and orchestrated the vengeance on JdV by removing him as Speaker.

JdV couldn’t believe what he was seeing!

The very congressmen who bowed to him were now up in arms against him. That Malacanang reportedly handed out fat envelops to motivate the congressmen aggravated his situation. It didn’t take very long before the numbers hit the magic number of 121 needed to secure his ouster.

Worse, his last ditch efforts to blackmail the Palace into “backing off”, the popular phrase used by Joey, didn’t work. His threats of spilling more beans didn’t frighten the palace at all.

Too bad for JdV this had to happen to him. But he deserves it. He was part of the massive corruption and he choose to cover it up time and again. It was his shield to fortify his position. Malacanang knew that any move on the part of JdV to tell dark secrets about corruption and election cheating won’t have much of an impact anymore. The people are sick and tired of these exposes, and they would rather wait until 2010 to change the picture through an election of a new president.

What is more sickening is JdV’s refusal to step down honorably. When he was faced with the manifesto containing signatures of majority of the congressmen, he should have displayed statesmanship and relinquish his position without raising a fuss. The Filipino people would have thought of him as a better person. But no, he chose to slug it out, and as a result, he came out the sore loser.

That ends the era of JdV as Speaker and master influence peddler.

Last night, I stayed glued until about midnight to the live coverage of ANC on the unfolding drama at the House of Representatives where House (now former) Speaker Jose de Venecia fought bitterly to stave off a Malacanang-orchestrated effort to oust him from his lofty position of leadership.

It was one of those occasions that gave the entire nation a ringside view to history in the making, for ANC did an outstanding job with its coverage, and gave Filipino citizens a good look at the character (or lack of it) and personality of their Congressmen.

In his defense, de Venecia delivered an eloquent extemporaneous speech, and proved once more what a consummate salesman he is. De Venecia made an impassioned plea for sympathy as he painted himself as the loyal soldier to Malacanang who is being made to suffer because of his son’s misdeeds. He also attacked President Gloria Macapagal for presiding over the most corrupt administration in the country and confessed to having knowledge about election fraud in the 2004 presidential elections.

But his pleas fell on deaf ears. The credibility of de Venecia has been torn to pieces, that’s why. The Filipino people couldn’t fell sorry for a man who knew too many things but chose to keep quiet until his position was threatened. He isn’t much of a different breed than the corrupt official that he depicted President Arroyo to be. He is part and parcel of the corrupt system that he is now denouncing.

De Venecia was just part of a bigger story last night. Sharing the limelight was the rotten display of selfishness and utter lack of principle among those congressmen who used to lick de Venecia’s behind. As the nominal voting wore on through the night, de Venecia must have been horrified to see his minions abandon him and vote “yes” to the move to declare the Speakership vacant.

One such treacherous political lieutenant was Majority Floor Leader Arthur Defensor, Sr. of the 3rd District of Iloilo. Likede Venecia, Defensor belongs to the Lakas CMD party.

Defensor was de Venecia’s handpicked choice to become the 2nd most powerful man in the House of Representatives. As majority floor leader, Defensor wielded immense power and enjoyed great privileges. His pork barrel is estimated at P200 million a year, almost triple the pork barrel of ordinary congressmen, which is P70 million. If there is any one man expected to fight it out in the trenches with de Venecia, it’s Defensor. The man owes de Venecia so many favors.

To the great surprise of the entire nation, Defensor voted “yes” to the proposition that the position of Speaker be declared vacant. Only the betrayal of Judas on Jesus Christ would qualify as a worst form of treachery. When Defensor saw that de Venecia was a sinking ship, he was like a rat that rushed to abandon it and join the survivors in the water. To hell with principle, his action seemed to say. What’s important is that he looks good to the new leadership in the House, and to Malacanang.

It’s the likes of Defensor who give politics a bad name. Shame on him.