11/19/2009
Tension is building up in the upper chamber as Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada is reportedly set to withdraw his signature in the resolution seeking to declare the dismissal of the case Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. on his alleged questionable funding of the C5 road extension project due to a “breach of agreement.”Estrada, however, is maintaining the position that Villar did not commit any wrongdoing insofar as the C5 road controversy is concerned.
“Due to lack of quorum, the session was adjourned and I would have manifested that I am withdrawing my signature to (Senate) Resolution 1472, not because I changed my position but because there was a breach in agreement in that, that particular resolution will be filed after the filing of the committee report by the committee of the whole headed by the Senate President.
“I still believe that up to
this date, and I will not change my position, that Villar is innocent of the charges filed against him,” he told reporters shortly after closing their afternoon plenary proceedings, where another round of debates on resolution 1472 was supposed to take place.
The senators’ disagreement on the C5 issue against Villar was further inflamed by the filing of the said resolution, with six majority bloc members joining the six-member minority bloc, effectively preempting the issuance of a report by the committee of whole that handled the probe.
The resolution seeks to enjoin the Senate to dismiss the complaint lodged by Sen. Jamby Madrigal and effectively clearing Villar of the alleged acts of disorderly behavior.
Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile, upon learning of the said resolution, threatened Tuesday to resign from the Senate presidency, viewing the move as a slap in his leadership, being the presiding officer in the committee of the whole hearings.
Sen. Gregorio Honasan, one of the signatories to the resolution, admitted that he consented to be among its authors with the understanding that its filing will come in after the Senate President presents the panel’s report with its findings and recommendatory sanction against Villar.
Ironically though, no one from among the minority bloc, not even Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., could attest to such agreement being discussed with those who signed, specifically to members of the majority bloc.
Both Honasan and Estrada claimed there was indeed such an arrangement.
There were talks that signatories to the said resolution received a handsome amount from Villar, allegedly in exchange to their being the sponsors, a matter that they vehemently denied.
“There are insinuations and there are rumors being circulated by some sectors that the reason I signed the document is in exchange of a slot offered to me by the Nacionalista Party. That is totally untrue. That has nothing to do with my signature in the resolution. If they still want me in, if the Nacionalista Party removes me from the list as a guest candidate, so be it,” Estrada told reporters.
The senator said he and Villar have yet to talk since the controversy over the resolution came about.
Estrada, however, said he had already reached a decision, that of withdrawing his signature in the next plenary session and “will state all the reasons.”
“But in fairness to him, I still maintain my stand that Villar, in my mind, having read the testimonial and documentary evidence filed against him, I still maintain that he is still innocent of the charges against him. I still maintain my stand, I stand by what I signed in that resolution.
“I signed the document in good faith. There was a breach in the agreement. (What) I am questioning is the timing of the filing of that particular resolution because it created insinuations that I was paid, there was monetary consideration, I was offered a slot as guest candidate. To erase all doubts and suspicions, I would rather withdraw my signature,” he said.
Pimentel and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano were quick to air their defense, dismissing the allegations that tainted the decision of their colleagues to sign the resolution as baseless.
“Why can’t they accept the fact that the majority of the senators believe that Villar has a clean name and this is all about politics?,” Cayetano said in a separate interview.
Pimentel stressed that they did not deceive their colleagues in signing the resolution or not attempted to dislodge Enrile from his present position.
But Pimentel could not attest whether there was such assurance made to some colleagues as he was the first to affix his signature.
“I have not asked anyone else to sign so I don’t know about the others, if there was deception but that’s hard to believe because senators are supposed to have their own mind and discretion, if this is the right decision or not, if they allow themselves to be deceived, that’s their fault,” he said.
Pimentel defended Villar from critics in fanning the issue of Villar who was both author and the router of the resolution, even if Sen. Francis Pangilinan had already mentioned this Tuesday in one of the interviews.
“I don’t think so. I don’t know, but in all fairness I don’t think --very likely the one who circulated it for signing was (Alan) Cayetano,” he said.
Cayetano denied having a hand in circulating the resolution for signature.
“I wasn’t the one who personally routed it. If there was a miscommunication between the staff or people who talked, of course we didn’t want that to happen. We told them that that it was very important this early into the presidential polls, so the people will know our opinion on this issue. Of course we did not want to offend Enrile, of course this has nothing to do with the integrity or capability of him to run the committee of the whole. This issue is being highlighted by Senators (Panfilo) Lacson and Madrigal to make it appear that Villar is yet to be cleared. In fact (Sen. Manuel “Mar”) Roxas ) did that yesterday to emphasize that they have yet to clear him. But if 12 of the 23 or majority of senators are now saying that all of the witnesses said it was above board, no overprice, what else do we need?
Source: http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/20091119hed2.html
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