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Senate President Manny Villar will be the main target
of the Senate opposition this week because of his perceived role in
the double entry of P200 million for the extension of C-5 from the
South Luzon Expressway to Sucat, Paranaque. It remains to be seen if
he will be so vulnerable as to be a virtual punching bag for the
opposition that had already drawn first blood.
Will there be more blood on the
Senate floor? This is highly possible as SP Villar had indicated
that he would not sit idly by while others are ganging up on him. He
waxed indignant at suggestions that he would have pocketed the
second entry of P200 million had it not been uncovered by Sen. Ping
Lacson. The usually cool SP said something ominous—If others could
hit him below the belt, he could do the same thing also. It looks
like he is not the kind of person who would turn the other cheek
when slapped.
He did not mention any name but
it was very evident who he was referring to when he dared a
presidential wannabe not to hide behind the skirt of his girlfriend
who had been lambasting him (Villar) over the radio. “Binubugbog
ako araw-araw,” he fumed.
A fighting SP Villar, this I’ve
got to see. Will he turn into a brawler? Or was his rage just
momentary and he will soon pipe down?
No reason to blow his fuse?
Sen. Ping Lacson said he could
not understand why Villar was angry when he did not say that Villar
was responsible for the double entry in the 2008 national budget. He
said that instead of being angry, Villar should even help him in
correcting this attempt by somebody to steal the P200 million.
I would not blame the SP for
feeling alluded to because Ping had mentioned the billboards showing
the SP’s picture and stories of the Senate President leading the
inauguration of the C-5 extension project. And if I may add, what
really rankles is the indirect accusation that he was out to make
money out of the project. Oh yes, there was a direct accusation by
the girlfriend of a senator, I almost forgot, but not by Ping.
Ping had been the favorite
whipping boy of the Arroyo administration. He said he had been
persecuted and so, he should know how it feels to be unjustly
charged and vilified. Oh well, we will soon know the facts behind
the case, and whether Villar is being nailed on the cross because of
2010.
The appropriate probe body
Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya
Jr. said that the second of the two entries of P200 million in the
2008 budget for the C-5 road extension project was a congressional
initiative. There are two Senate resolutions on this issue. The
first resolution, authored by eight senators including Ping, want
the Senate constituting itself as the Committee of the Whole to do
the inquiry “because the issue affects the integrity of the entire
chamber. The second, filed by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, wants the
Senate Committee on Finance to do the investigation not only of the
double entry but of all congressional initiatives.
I consider the finance committee
headed by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile the more appropriate panel. In
several columns, I had criticized the frequent constitution of the
Committee of the Whole as it undermines the committee system. The
Committee of the Whole should be constituted only when there is
doubt on which standing committee should handle a particular
resolution.
Incidentally, one of the
signatories of Ping ’s resolution did not know that the
investigation was to be conducted by the Committee of the Whole.
When he learned about this, he said it should have been referred to
the finance committee. He also said he thought that the double entry
was the handiwork of Malacańang.
Road to nowhere?
I note that Ping had called the
road extension project “The road to nowhere.” This immediately
conjures images of a whimsical project that serves no purpose
whatsoever except to line one’s pocket. This description was a
take-off from the “bridge to nowhere” sponsored by Republican
Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska . When he was chairman of the US Senate
Committee on Appropriations in 2006, Stevens pushed for the
$230-million bridge project that would have led to an island
populated by about 50 people. The project was eventually scuttled
but it had become a symbol for pork that had gone berserk.
The C-5 road extension is not a
“road to nowhere.” Many had thought that the P200 million was
enough to complete the project, so the second P200 million would no
longer be needed. 
efrendanao2003@yahoo.com
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