The bitter political dispute between Speaker Prospero C. Nograles and the man he had ousted, former Speaker Jose C. de Venecia, after the latter’s son, Jose de Venecia III, linked First Gentleman Mike Arroyo to the aborted $320-million National Broadband Netwok (NBN) project, is expected to worsen when the Commission on Elections (Comelec) hears at 10 a.m. on Monday the petition seeking to annul the merger of Lakas Christian Muslim (CMD) and Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (KAMPI) to be known as Lakas KAMPI CMD.

Nograles, interim vice chairman of Lakas KAMPI CMD, is one of the respondents named in the petition filed by De Venecia saying the merger was illegal and void from the beginning. De Venecia, assisted by Dean Amado D. Valdez of the University of the East College of Law,asked the Comelec to deny Lakas KAMPI CMD application for registration stressing that the merger was a product of a conscious and deliberate scheme to keep the center of power in the hands of a cabal of people for their own personal and selfish ends, all acts inimical to the interest and good standing of Lakas CMD at home and before the international community.

The petition sought Comelec declaration that Nograles and other respondents, including President Arroyo, Executive Secretary Eduardo S. Ermita, Presidential Political Adviser Gabriel S. Claudio, Interior Secretary Ronaldo V. Puno, Deputy Speaker Pablo P. Garcia, Deputy Speaker Simeon A. Datumanong, Quezon City Mayor Feliciano R. Belmonte, Jr., and Rep. Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez are guilty of acts inimical to the interest of Lakas CMD as a political party and prejudicial to the rights of its members.