Show specifics, Palace tells Villar

Malacañang advised former House Speaker Manuel Villar Jr. yesterday to submit "specifics" of the alleged incidents of harassment of his private businesses so that concerned government officials can look into these claims.

At the outset, however, Press Secretary Ricardo Puno Jr. vehemently belied any alleged Malacañang hand in the harassment of Villar’s private businesses.

"If you have such businesses, one should normally expect those kinds of inquiries or audits of income taxes, among other things," Puno said.

"But definitely, Malacañang has not done anything that Congressman Villar may construe as harassment of his private businesses," Puno told The STAR.

Puno, though, told Villar to furnish the Palace or any of the Cabinet members concerned, if any of their subordinate agencies or officials maybe acting in retaliation against the Speaker.

"We would certainly initiate an investigation if he (Villar) can give us specifics," Puno said.

Villar decried the alleged harassment of his private companies after he bolted the administration party. He was accused of railroading the transmittal of the articles of impeachment of the President from the Lower House to the Senate.

Meanwhile, Malacañang admitted yesterday that as much as $13 billion in official development assistance (ODA) extended to the Philippines has remained unused due to problems like lack of counterpart peso funds, which have stalled utilization of foreign-funded projects (FAPs).

Puno said the President and the Cabinet agreed yesterday to come up with measures to facilitate and speed up the utilization of these ODAs.

Puno, however, did not elaborate on the specific measures.

"There are certainly a lot of ODAs out there but the utilization is not ideal," he said. — Marichu Villanueva