JEDDAH, 30 November 2007 — THE announcement this week that the Presidential Commission on Good Government had recommended that the Arroyo administration reopen the behest loan case against House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., and the subsequent denial by PCCG Chairman Camilo Sabio that the revival had nothing to do with the rift between President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Speaker, was mind-boggling if only for its sheer assumption of stupidity on the part of the public.

Does anyone in their right mind really believe that the revival of the case, which involves $120 million in unpaid loans by the Landoil Resources Corp., which De Venecia once headed in the 1970s and 80s, has nothing to do with President Arroyo and her husband being mad at the Speaker’s son Jose “Joey” de Venecia for having derailed the ZTE Corp. broadband deal with his allegations of corruption and kickbacks? I don’t think so.

The Speaker has now cried foul, claiming that he is being victimized in a political vendetta against him and his son. He refused to pointblank name the president and her husband as his attackers, but he left no doubt in our minds whom he was talking about. “I don’t know. Ask yourself. Why is there an ethics case against me? ... They’re all over. There is a pattern,” he told the Inquirer.

The Speaker claims that he had already left Landoil when the settlement with the government was signed in 1988, and thus should not be held liable. He also claims that the PCGG and the Ramos administration dropped the case against him in 1995. Reviving the case at this exact time just reeks to me of pure and nasty revenge on the part of the Arroyos.

Of course, as always, they are extremely careful to not be directly linked to such efforts so that they can claim with straight faces that they had nothing to do with it.

The Speaker is already being warned by fellow congressmen of other politicians who are actively plotting to take the speakership away from him in January when Congress returns from its Christmas break. I would not be surprised if the Speaker is stabbed multiple times in the back before being kicked away for his son having dared challenge a dirty deal that the first gentleman and various high officials in the Arroyo administration (like former Comelec head Benjamin Abalos) were trying to profit from.

Road Trip to Al-Lith and Qunfudah

I WENT on a road trip last Sunday to Al-Lith, which is around 200 kilometers south of Jeddah, and then on to the small city of Qunfudah, which is around 385 kilometers down the coast from the Bride of the Red Sea.

Driving was my colleague Usama, with Angelo our back seat navigator. Traveling on the Makkah Highway we drove until the main checkpoint into the holy city and then turned right to drive south to Al-Lith. We took the old road leading to Al-Lith, and passed many abandoned gasoline stations and mosques along the way.

It was a quite interesting landscape, a sort of Saudi version of the American West. At the entrance to the town of Al-Lith we turned left and drove inland for 19 kilometers through a hilly landscape. Along the way we saw herds of goats alongside the road and Saudi school kids returning home from school, carrying their books wrapped up in prayer rugs.

I was excited to see the hot springs that I had heard so much about. Usama had a small road trip guide written by a British woman who had lived in Jeddah in the 1990s.

Published by the Shell Oil company, the guide noted that the area still didn’t have a paved road leading to the hot springs from Al-Lith. Unfortunately for us, the road is very well paved now, which means of course that the village of Ma’a al Har (Hot Water village) is now easily accessible to all.

Driving on a road that curved between beautiful hills that kept changing color with the movement of the clouds and sunlight, we came upon an open area that had been cemented over to make it into a recreation area. A Saudi family was camping out beneath a canopy nearby, and a cow was wandering around. “Where are the springs?” I asked innocently. And my question was answered when I walked over to what looked like a big trench in the cement. There the yellowed waters of the hot springs lay barely moving, the heat rising off of it making its presence known. Trash consisting of discarded paper, plastic bags and bottles littered the whole trench, turning what might have been a pretty sight into an eyesore.

After a quick lunch of sandwiches that we had brought with us from Jeddah, we drove off sorely disappointed by the pollution but amazed by the beauty of the hills. Our next stop was the city of Qunfudah that had what looked like a brand new Corniche or seaside road and promenade. There we spotted a branch of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and of the Saudi chicken fast food chain Al-Tazaj.

Driving back to Jeddah on the newer Jeddah-Al Lith highway as night fell, we witnessed the crazy driving of Saudi drivers who came straight at us in our lane with their lights ablaze, no doubt in their minds that we would chicken out and swerve onto the shoulder so as to allow them to pass without a head-on collision. No wonder there are so many accidents and fatalities on Saudi highways!

AFTER nearly 20 years at Arab News I am leaving the paper for the second time, and I’m moving to Abu Dhabi this December to join a new English-language newspaper being set up there by Abu Dhabi Media Company Inc.

I will be the deputy Opinion editor of the paper that is due to launch next March. I will surely miss all of my colleagues at Arab News, but will continue to write this column for the green paper that helped launch my career in journalism in 1988.

Comments or questions? E-mail me at: [email protected]. Visit my blog at: http://rasheedsworld.blogspot.com.