'Road to nowhere' sparks presidentiables' rumble

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate’s presidential wannabes went on a rumble yesterday over the controversial “road to nowhere” project, with Senate President Manuel Villar accusing Sen. Panfilo Lacson of insinuating that he is involved in the alleged anomaly.

The free-for-all erupted as the senators mulled over an investigation to determine who made the double entry for the same road project with different names in the 2008 national budget.

It was Malacañang that was initially at the Senate’s cross-hairs when the alleged irregularity came to light during Monday’s Senate hearing.

Villar blew his top when Lacson told the chamber that the controversial project was the Senate president’s pet project.

He said he was surprised to hear radio reports stating that the subdivisions his family owns would benefit from the questionable projects.

“I did not even know that it was me they were referring to,” he said.

“I am not involved here, I did not bid out for this, I did not choose the supply contractor. I don’t know how I will make money out of this,” Villar said.

Joining the fray were Senators Francis Escudero and Richard Gordon, members of the majority bloc under Villar, who said an investigation must be done even if it would involve the leader of the Senate.

Gordon signed Resolution No. 622 filed by members of the minority convening the Senate into a committee of the whole to investigate the issue.

The controversy stemmed from the double entry in the budget allocation for the construction of the C-5 Road Extension, renamed President Carlos P. Garcia Avenue Extension from the South Luzon Expressway to Sucat Road in the General Appropriations Act of 2008. The project was allotted P200 million each under the different names or a total of P400 million.

The others who signed the resolution aside from Lacson were Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Senators Manuel Roxas II, Benigno Aquino III, Rodolfo Biazon, Loren Legarda and Jamby Madrigal.

Pro-administration Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Juan Ponce Enrile, chairman of the Senate committee on finance praised Lacson for spotting the double entry but said suspicions must be held off until the data are thoroughly reviewed. Enrile said the double entry might be purely human error.

In the resolution, the senators said Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya, during a briefing on the proposed 2009 budget by the Development Budget Coordinating Committee, admitted that the P200 million budget allocation for the construction of the C-5 Road Extension under the heading of urgent infrastructure projects was a “congressional insertion” and not a proposal of his department.

“The questionable insertion of the additional P200 million in the 2008 national budget is a duplication clearly intended to be used for other purposes,” the resolution read.

“It is of vital public interest to unearth the culprits behind this questionable insertion and to examine the particulars as to who, why and how such an anomalous allocation was introduced, sponsored or instigated right under the scrutiny of officials of the Department of Budget and Management and the Department of Public Works and Highways,” it added.

At Malacañang, Andaya said they had discovered early this year the move of Congress to double the funding of a P200 million road project in Parañaque City in this year’s budget so no funds were released for the duplicate appropriation.

“It was fortunate that we discovered the second entry for the same road project but I repeat that this duplicate entry did not come from us, but this one was given and approved by Congress,” Andaya told reporters.

“Actually when we found out about this, it was not a big deal to us. When we found out that there was double appropriation, it was automatic in our system that we do not allow the release of fund,” he said.

Villar, at a press briefing, categorically denied any participation in the alleged erroneous appropriation in the 2008 national budget.  

While admitting that he pushed for the project and wanted a bigger allocation for it, he said he did so because he wanted it finished on time to improve the traffic situation in Metro Manila. – With Paolo Romero, Jess Diaz, Evelyn Macairan