Jamby to file ethics case vs Villar

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Jamby Madrigal is expected to file a complaint of conflict interest against Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. before the ethics committee on Monday as Sen. Juan Ponce-Enrile announced yesterday that he would no longer call for another hearing into the alleged double funding for the C-5 Road Extension Project in the 2008 national budget.

Sen. Pia Cayetano, ethics committee chairperson, said she received information that the complaint would be brought to her panel but it would be treated only as just one of the cases against a senator and would not be given undue priority.

“I’ll take it from there. I’ll take it one day at a time. Once it’s there, then that’s the time we will look into it,” Cayetano said over dwIZ.

Madrigal and Sen. Panfilo Lacson accused Villar of conflict of interest as the Senate President supposedly pushed for additional funding for the C-5 project where his properties were located and would benefit from the road development.

Madrigal vowed to submit evidence to prove her allegations.

But Lacson earlier said a taxpayer should file the case because as members of the ethics committee, they might have to inhibit themselves from the investigation if they themselves would lodge the complaint against Villar.

Cayetano said she had not yet constituted the membership of the ethics committee so they could decide on the issue.

She stressed there were many other issues to be handled in other committees and thus, the issue on Villar must not be the only focus of the Senate.

Cayetano said it doesn’t matter if the Senate President is the one being accused of wrongdoing.

“Like all our colleagues, one is innocent until proven guilty, isn’t it? So I have to do my job. He (Senator Villar) has to continue doing his job and the others will continue to do their jobs,” Cayetano said.

But she said she would hold hearings on the issue even during the break if needed.

Enrile, for his part, said the ethics committee would now handle the issue because he had finished the aspect covered by his finance panel.

He clarified that he did not exonerate Villar from the allegations, only that his committee was not the proper one to look into the conflict of interest issue.

He said his committee would prepare a report on the issue of the insertions per se and whether or not it was illegal.

Enrile said he did not see anything wrong in Villar’s request for additional funding alone but the ethics committee would have to check whether there was indeed conflict of interest.