Villar man 'dictated' inclusion of extra P200M in C5 road budget, inquiry told
AMITA LEGASPI, GMANews.TV
08/25/2009 | 06:52 PM
A budget monitoring official on Tuesday said the order to insert a P200 million budget for the construction of the C5 road extension project in 2008 came from the office of then Senate President Manuel Villar.
Testifying at a hearing of the Senate Committee of the Whole, lawyer Yolanda Doblon, director general of the Legislative Budget and Research Management Office (LBRMO), specifically pointed to a consultant of Villar as the person who “dictated" the inclusion of the extra amount.
Villar stands accused of causing the realignment of C5 road extension project to benefit properties registered in the name of corporations that he and his family own and control.
Sen. Jamby Madrigal said Villar made an insertion of P200 million in the General Appropriations Act of 2008 for the construction of the C5 extension from South Luzon Expressway to Sucat Road even though such amount had already been included in the same project.
In the her testimony, Doblon said that sometime in November 2007 she received a call from the office of Villar, then Senate president, to discuss the latter’s amendments to the 2008 proposed national budget.
When she went to the Senate president’s room, she found there Villar and a certain Mr. Adriano, whose first name and position she did not know.
Asked by lawyer Ernesto Francisco, counsel of Senator Madrigal, if she was referring to Anastacio Adriano, executive vice president of Adelfa Properties, Doblon said she does not know.
Adelfa Properties is one of Villar’s companies that is involved in the C5 road construction project.
She said Adriano "dictated" to her three to four proposed amendments, including the P200 million budget for the road, which Villar wanted to introduced in the proposed budget.
When told that the term ‘"dictated" has a negative connotation, Doblon said the better term to use would be "enumerated."
She said she did not bother to ask if Adriano was a staff of Villar as she regularly saw him inside the senator’s room.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said he was the chairman of the finance committee when it happened and Villar went through the normal process in submitting his proposed amendments.
A certification from the Dolores Evidente, service chief of the Senate human resource management and service, showed that Adriano was never an employee of the Senate.
A text message from Avic Amarillo, Villar’s media relations officer, said Adriano is their consultant.
In an interview with reporters, Villar insisted that there was nothing irregular with his allowing Adriano to talk with Doblon with regard to the amendments in the 2008 proposed budget.
“Maliwanag na wala namang irregular, pinapalaki lamang nila ito. Yung pagsama ko sa staff ko normal naman yun e. Natatawa nga ako at binibigyang malisya. Kaya mo nga staff yan e para kasama mo," the senator told reporters.
(It is clear that there is nothing irregular about it, they are just making an issue out of it. It is just normal that I bring my staff when consulting with Senate officials. They are just putting malice on it.)
When the alleged "insertion"was first exposed by Madrigal and Lacson last year, Villar refused to participate in the ethics committee proceedings chaired by Lacson, saying the latter and the committee members including Loren Legarda, Manuel Roxas II, Francis Escudero and Richard Gordon are his potential rivals for the presidential race in 2010.
Villar’s camp has been accused by his colleagues of ganging up on him since his opinion poll ratings as an aspirant in the 2010 presidential elections continued to rise.
Lacson then moved to have the Senate convene itself into a committee of the whole to handle the issue, with Senate President Enrile as presiding officer.
The hearing hopes to hear soon from Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., who both declined invitation to the hearing on Tuesday as they attended a Cabinet meeting with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Sarangani province. — GMANews.TV
Testifying at a hearing of the Senate Committee of the Whole, lawyer Yolanda Doblon, director general of the Legislative Budget and Research Management Office (LBRMO), specifically pointed to a consultant of Villar as the person who “dictated" the inclusion of the extra amount.
Villar stands accused of causing the realignment of C5 road extension project to benefit properties registered in the name of corporations that he and his family own and control.
Sen. Jamby Madrigal said Villar made an insertion of P200 million in the General Appropriations Act of 2008 for the construction of the C5 extension from South Luzon Expressway to Sucat Road even though such amount had already been included in the same project.
In the her testimony, Doblon said that sometime in November 2007 she received a call from the office of Villar, then Senate president, to discuss the latter’s amendments to the 2008 proposed national budget.
When she went to the Senate president’s room, she found there Villar and a certain Mr. Adriano, whose first name and position she did not know.
Asked by lawyer Ernesto Francisco, counsel of Senator Madrigal, if she was referring to Anastacio Adriano, executive vice president of Adelfa Properties, Doblon said she does not know.
Adelfa Properties is one of Villar’s companies that is involved in the C5 road construction project.
She said Adriano "dictated" to her three to four proposed amendments, including the P200 million budget for the road, which Villar wanted to introduced in the proposed budget.
When told that the term ‘"dictated" has a negative connotation, Doblon said the better term to use would be "enumerated."
She said she did not bother to ask if Adriano was a staff of Villar as she regularly saw him inside the senator’s room.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said he was the chairman of the finance committee when it happened and Villar went through the normal process in submitting his proposed amendments.
A certification from the Dolores Evidente, service chief of the Senate human resource management and service, showed that Adriano was never an employee of the Senate.
A text message from Avic Amarillo, Villar’s media relations officer, said Adriano is their consultant.
In an interview with reporters, Villar insisted that there was nothing irregular with his allowing Adriano to talk with Doblon with regard to the amendments in the 2008 proposed budget.
“Maliwanag na wala namang irregular, pinapalaki lamang nila ito. Yung pagsama ko sa staff ko normal naman yun e. Natatawa nga ako at binibigyang malisya. Kaya mo nga staff yan e para kasama mo," the senator told reporters.
(It is clear that there is nothing irregular about it, they are just making an issue out of it. It is just normal that I bring my staff when consulting with Senate officials. They are just putting malice on it.)
When the alleged "insertion"was first exposed by Madrigal and Lacson last year, Villar refused to participate in the ethics committee proceedings chaired by Lacson, saying the latter and the committee members including Loren Legarda, Manuel Roxas II, Francis Escudero and Richard Gordon are his potential rivals for the presidential race in 2010.
Villar’s camp has been accused by his colleagues of ganging up on him since his opinion poll ratings as an aspirant in the 2010 presidential elections continued to rise.
Lacson then moved to have the Senate convene itself into a committee of the whole to handle the issue, with Senate President Enrile as presiding officer.
The hearing hopes to hear soon from Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., who both declined invitation to the hearing on Tuesday as they attended a Cabinet meeting with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Sarangani province. — GMANews.TV
