MANILA, Philippines – Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said yesterday he would again ask the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release the second appropriation of P200 million for the C-5 Road Extension amid the controversy on the alleged intervention by Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. into the project.
Ebdane said he would also ask President Arroyo to reconsider her earlier pronouncement that she would not allow the second release of P200 million, following allegations by opposition Senators Panfilo Lacson and Jamby Madrigal that Villar might have benefited from the double appropriation.
At the height of the exposé, the President directed DBM Secretary Rolando Andaya “to make sure not to release it.”
After the deliberations of the Senate on the Department of Public Works and Highways’ P112.3-billion proposed budget, Ebdane told reporters that he would personally write Andaya to seek the release of the additional P200 million.
He said Andaya had verbally approved his request during their last conversation.
“I’ll be officially requesting that the additional budget is released so that we can use it. What is important is, we cannot spend two different amounts for one specific project. This won’t pass audit and if we do that, we will be jailed,” Ebdane added.
Ebdane said his department will just use the additional P200 million for the construction of the flyover between Coastal and Sucat roads.
“The C-5 Road extension project is continuous. In fact, I’m requesting for the release... It’s not easy to request for funds so anything in addition is welcome,” Ebdane said.
He said the agency should be insulated from politics at the Senate, and he does not see any anomaly in the double appropriation for the C-5 Road Extension project.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano challenged Lacson and Madrigal anew to complement their allegations with facts, not with mere insinuations.
Cayetano shrugged off Lacson’s accusations that indeed Villar and his wife, Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar, benefited from the C-5 extension project.
He said the Senate ethics committee, of which he is also a member, will hear Lacson and Madrigal’s complaints with objectivity.
DPWH directed to produce documents
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile directed Ebdane to produce the documents requested by Lacson on the C-5 Road project.
In his bid to bolster his claim that Villar was favored in the “modification” of the right of way in areas to be covered by the project, Lacson also asked for copies of the deed of sale of the 39 properties to be affected by the right-of-way.
Lacson questioned Ebdane over a deed of sale between Masaito Development Group and Adelfa Properties, reportedly owned by the Villar clan.
In the middle of the hearing, Ebdane reported that the government had already spent P1.2 billion to compensate the owners of properties affected by the right-of-way projects in the area.
Since the C-5 Road extension plan was modified, Lacson insinuated at the hearing that the P1.2 billion spent by the government would be wasted since the roads were diverted somewhere else.
Asked if it was normal for the DPWH to shift from one plan to another, Ebdane said this was not a normal practice. “We usually don’t do that. What is important is that we want to make sure that the government will not spend more than what it should,” he said.
During the hearing, Lacson said he has copies of a check and a ledger to show that Villar benefited from the C-5 Road extension since 2004.
Based on the documents, Villar’s Adelfa Properties Inc. received payment for right-of-way through Masaito Development Corp. The companies supposedly entered into a memorandum of agreement and had a swapping scheme in 2004 since the C-5 project would not traverse the Senate chief’s properties.
Lacson said he got a copy of the P25-million check from the Land Bank of the Philippines and a ledger from the DPWH to prove how real-estate developers were paid for right of way even as their properties will benefit from the road development.
He said Joseph Wang of Masaito agreed to a swapping scheme without knowing that the C-5 road project would traverse its properties.
The questionable payments made by the DPWH, amounting to P3 million, were classified under standard operating procedures (SOPs)/representations. The amount is the difference from the P48 million supposed total amount for the right-of-way on the Masaito properties.
Only about P45 million was reflected in the money transfer from DPWH to Land Bank where the payment to Masaito was reflected.