'Villar, aide discussed inclusion of C-5 road project in 2008 budget'

MANILA, Philippines - An executive of the Legislative Budget and Research Management Office (LBRMO) yesterday testified that Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. and a top official of one of his companies discussed with her the inclusion of P200 million for the right of way of the C-5 road project in the 2008 budget.

Lawyer Yolanda Doblon, LBRMO director general, told the Senate Committee of the Whole during the resumption of the ethics hearing against Villar yesterday that the amount of P200 million was among the amendments that Villar made during deliberations on the 2008 budget. It was different from the line budget of the first P200 million proposed by the Office of the President for the C-5 road.

Villar faces allegations that he benefited from the double appropriation of the C-5 extension project.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who was finance committee chairman at that time, was quick to explain that the introduction of amendments in the budget is part of Congress’ function that comes with its power of the purse, a view that Doblon shares.

“In this particular case, that was done, the senators were notified, to submit their individual amendments in order to expedite the work on the passage of the appropriations bill. That is why in this particular case, Senator Villar submitted their amendment through their LBMRO through attorney Doblon,” Enrile said.

“Based on our notion, it is not surprising that an item could be slashed or even eliminated and the amount allocated for that particular item could be used to augment other items in the same by presidential budget,” Enrile explained during the hearing.

“As long as the totality of the budget expenditure as proposed by the President is not increased, that is the power of the purse that the Congress wields as against the executive under our system of government,” Enrile said.

He noted that he accepted all of these amendments, including Villar’s, in the same way he accepted all the amendments of other senators.

Enrile added that the amount or cash never passed through the senators.

“They simply rearrange the figures and this is done through the power of amendments… I just want to put that into record so that the public will not be misled that we are doing some rearrangement in the budget to benefit ourselves,” Enrile added.

In her testimony, Doblon said she went to Villar’s office and met Villar and one of his staff, a certain Adriano, to discuss the amendments during the deliberations on the 2008 budget.

Doblon said she took instructions from Adriano for Sen. Villar’s three amendments to the 2008 budget, one of which is for the C-5 construction.

It was during the same meeting at Villar’s office that Adriano instructed her to include in the budget another P200 million supposedly for the construction of C-5 road extension from SLEX to Sucat Road.

Doblon said Villar was present during the meeting and heard all their discussions on the C-5 road.

During the hearing yesterday, Sen. Panfilo Lacson identified Adriano as the executive vice president and general manager of Adelfa Properties, one of Villar’s companies which owns properties along the realigned C-5 road extension.

Enrile, as chairman of the Senate Committee of the Whole, said Lacson’s statement on Adriano should be made under oath.

Sen. Jamby Madrigal, in reaction, said the latest revelation was a “brazen abuse of power, a clear case of conflict and an insult to the Senate.”

At the hearing, Madrigal showed verification from the Senate’s Human Resources Management Service that Adriano is not in the Senate’s plantilla.

No wrongdoing

Meanwhile, Villar laughed off Madrigal’s alleged latest move to discredit him, stressing that he did not do anything wrong, adding that her camp has put color into Adriano’s presence during the drafting of the 2008 budget.

He reiterated that that he is proud of the C-5 road project which stands to benefit about six million affected motorists. “There was nothing irregular there. They are just putting political color into it,” said Villar, who also denied that he used his influence for the release of the budget for the C-5 road extension project.

He admitted that Adriano was a former employee but the point was they should establish first what he did wrong and prove their allegations.

In a separate testimony, DPWH National Capital Region’s Director Edilberto Tayao said the original alignment of the C-5 road extension runs through SLEX to Coastal Road.

Tayao also agreed with the premise of Madrigal’s lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr. that the project cost should have been lower if the original alignment was followed.

In the original plan Madrigal said the C-5 road extension was supposed to pass along NAIA corner Kabihasnan Roads and connect to Coastal Road.

Instead, the C-5 extension was extended by a few kilometers and made to traverse, starting from Sucat Road, the Las Piñas-Parañaque Link Road where the Villar properties are located.