C-5 drama heats up

MANILA, Philippines - In yet another twist to the controversy that has divided the Senate and opened up old wounds, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said yesterday Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. offered him “help” in return for killing the investigation into the C-5 road scandal.

“He was trying to buy me off, I suppose in exchange for a very favorable decision,” Enrile said at a press conference, referring to what had reportedly transpired in a meeting with Villar at a Makati hotel in August last year.

Enrile briefly excused himself from the press briefing to take medication for hypertension, saying he felt his blood pressure shoot up.

The Nacionalista Party, under which Villar is running for president in the May elections, denied Enrile's allegations.

Villar, in a radio interview, said he saw no need to ask help from Enrile because “I was confident that the documents, the records, the witnesses, and the rules will prove that the C-5 road project was not double-funded, overpriced or rerouted.”

"No help was asked and none was given," Villar said in denying Enrile's accusations.

“But looking back, I thought I was dealing with honorable men who would view things fair and impartially. Nagkamali pala ako (I was wrong)," Villar said, adding that he was "hurt" by Enrile's "false story."

Enrile said he "graciously agreed" to Villar's invitation for a lunch meeting at the Japanese restaurant in the Makati Shangri-La Hotel during which the NP standard-bearer sought his help on the C-5 issue. With Enrile during the meeting was his chief of staff lawyer Gigi Reyes.

"During that meeting, Senator Villar expressed his request for my help because he was concerned about the investigation. He asserted that he had done nothing wrong and that Senator (Jamby) Madrigal's charges had no basis," he said. 

"I explained to him that since the complaint of Senator Madrigal has been referred to the Committee of the Whole and that the Supreme Court had not issued the temporary restraining order they sought, the hearings must proceed," Enrile said.

He said he advised Villar "very clearly" and "repeatedly" to participate in the Senate hearings on the issue or send his lawyers so that he could present his case.

At the time of the meeting, Villar and his Senate allies had just petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the Committee of the Whole from investigating the C-5 issue.

"Several times during that meeting, Senator Villar interjected: 'Manong, baka naman may maitutulong ako sa inyo. Makakatulong naman ako kung may kailangan kayo (Brother, maybe I can offer you some help. I can help if you need something),"' Enrile said, recalling their conversation during the meeting.

"I chose to ignore these statements, feeling very uncomfortable. But I told him, Manny, gusto kitang tulungan (I want to help you). What I can promise you is that I will be fair to you. I will not allow the hearings to go beyond the issues referred to the committee nor for it to be turned into a fishing expedition," Enrile said in answer to Villar's offer.

When Villar repeated his offer, Enrile said he told him: "Manny, if I help you, don't worry, walang kapalit yun (I ask for nothing in return)."

In a press statement, Enrile cited Villar's "propensity to use his billions to offer favors to people, including his colleagues, to avoid facing the charges against him."

"I believe it is my duty to oblige and listen whenever any of my colleagues request to see me or talk to me," Enrile said.

"I want to tell Senator Villar, being an aspirant to the highest position in the land, I know you have helped a lot of people because you came from a poor family," Enrile said.

"Now that you are very rich, you are in a better position to help more of the needy among people. But to use your money to bribe people just because you want to kill the investigation instead of facing the charges against you, just like what President (Joseph) Estrada did, is the worst disservice you can do to this nation," he said.

Enrile's revelations came a day after Villar's allies and critics squared off at the plenary over the Senate Committee of the Whole resolution recommending censure for Villar and asking him to return more than P6 billion to the government representing expenses for the realignment of the C-5 road project. Villar snubbed the hearing. The realignment reportedly benefited housing projects of Villar's real estate business. Enrile as Senate president chairs the Committee of the Whole.

In a phone interview with a Dagupan City radio station, Enrile said he can have Villar jailed if he were allowed to file a criminal case against the NP standard-bearer.

"Kung ako ay payagan nilang magsampa ng kaso laban kay Manny Villar sa husgado at yang mga dumedepensa sa kanya, sila ang humarap na defense lawyer niya, ipinangangako ko sa inyo at sinisiguro ko papasok siya sa bilangguan (If they allow me to file a case against Manny Villar and those defending him would be his defense lawyers, I promise and I will make sure he lands in jail)," Enrile said in a phone interview over Aksyon Radyo Pangasinan.

No offer

Villar maintained that the Senate hearing on the C-5 controversy was "conceived in malice and was meant to embarrass me so I will not be a factor in these elections." He said it all started when he improved in surveys for presidential candidates.

Since the C-5 controversy erupted, Villar admitted he had countless meetings and encounters with Enrile "because I made it a point to greet him and say a few words to him, whether in the session hall or committee rooms or elevator."

"I have always been civil to my colleagues, even if we are on opposing sides in an election," he said.

"But in these meetings with him, I can't remember offering to help him with anything in exchange for him helping me. I don't have Alzheimer's and (neither) does JPE. Maybe he was misquoted," he said.

To the rescue

Senators Loren Legarda, Joker Arroyo and Miriam Santiago said they were saddened by the conduct of debate last Monday.

"Those cases have been answered before in several fora but they do not stop talking about the issue because this is clearly a political issue," Legarda told the weekly Tuesday Club meeting at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City.

"Party lines have been drawn. I am glad that my president, Manny Villar, sees the bigger picture, working hard by helping people and working hard in fighting poverty," Legarda said. "There are bigger battles to fight than fighting each other," she said.

"The Senate is now a broken cell. That's the tragedy to that," Arroyo said for his part.

"First of all, yesterday's (Monday) proceeding, at least on what is reported in the media, was not the brightest moment of the Philippine Senate. I am very, very sad by what happened. I already predicted this when I told my friends that we should not file charges against each other just before the campaign period," Santiago said.

Santiago delivered yesterday a co-sponsorship speech for Resolution 1472 clearing Villar but opted not to be interpellated.

She also said a censure of Villar needs 16 votes or at least two thirds of the chamber's membership.

Apology sought

Meanwhile, Rep. Risa Hontiveros of the party-list group Akbayan asked Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. to apologize for his "sexist insertion joke" in the Senate on Monday.

"He should apologize not just to Korina (Sanchez) but also to all women who do not appreciate being reduced as subjects of jokes and frivolous retorts," she said.

Pimentel made his controversial remark during Monday's deliberations on the report of Enrile on the C-5 road extension controversy.

Pimentel is one of Villar's defenders. His statement followed the declaration of Sen. Manuel Roxas II that unlike Villar, who was accused of "inserting" P200 million in the 2008 budget for his road project, he has no "insertions" in the annual outlay.

"Since you are now married, you must have had insertions," Pimentel retorted.

Roxas protested the remark, saying it was an affront to his wife.

Pimentel said he was withdrawing his statement.

Hontiveros said the Mindanao senator's joke "was absolutely uncalled for."

"It was irrelevant, offensive and should not have been said at all, especially by a senator who has a well-respected reputation as a freedom fighter," she said.

"Women should not be treated as objects of ridicule, and what makes it doubly offensive was that it was used to sidetrack our attention from the real issue," she said.

She pointed out that the foul language used by Villar's defenders did not help him at all.

Palace hands off

Malacañang said it will not interfere in the debates at the Senate although it hopes to see the passage of the bills certified by the President as urgent.

Conrado Limcaoco, officer-in-charge of the Office of the Press Secretary, said that the Palace respects the independence of the Senate and the House of Representatives as co-equal institutions and will leave it up to them to determine how they conduct their business.

"These bills, which have been certified as urgent administrative measures, are passed on through a Congress and a Senate that are independent of the executive and will manage their own procedures," Limcaoco said.

"We hope that they will see their way clear to passing some of these measures before they adjourn," he added.

"I think we've already certified the bills and what happens in the Congress and the Senate is due to their own management of their procedures, which we have no say over and we respect fully," he said.

"We simply leave it to the public and the voters to take note that the candidate who's not involved in this proxy war is out there letting his platform be known to people, letting his character and talent be known to the people, and hopefully the voters will respond to something like that," presidential deputy spokesperson Gary Olivar said.

Meanwhile, Monsignor Pedro Quitorio III, media director of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, said the behavior of some senators in last Monday's session was disappointing.

"It should be on the issues. It should be principled partisan politics," Quitorio said referring to how he felt the floor debate should have been conducted. With Jess Diaz, Evelyn Macairan, Marvin Sy, Eva Visperas