Palace: Villar motivated by ambition

MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Manuel Villar was motivated by “personal ambition” when he rejected a proposed compromise for Commission on Higher Education Chairman Romulo Neri to appear at the Senate investigation on the national broadband controversy, Malacañang said yesterday.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said it was regrettable that Villar, who is reportedly eyeing the presidency in 2010, has “spurned the Supreme Court’s good intentions for a compromise on the use of executive privilege.”

President Arroyo has done her share in trying to resolve the issue by revoking Executive Order No. 464 and Memorandum Circular 108, he added.

Deputy Presidential Spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo said the rejection was “a sad development” and appealed to the senators’ “statesmanship.”

“It would be in the best interest of the curious public if we can work within the framework of the Supreme Court proposal,” she said.

She hopes the senators would consider public interest to soften their stand on the compromise, she added.

Bunye’s statements were stronger compared to previous Palace appeals for the Senate to reconsider its position of the compromise.

Chief Justice Reynato Puno had proposed that Neri testify before the Senate on the NBN deal but may invoke executive privilege in refusing to answer certain questions.

Neri had questioned before the SC the arrest warrant issued by the Senate against him for his refusal to testify anew on the NBN deal and divulge his conversations with Mrs. Arroyo on the matter. – Paolo Romero