(Updated) Senate finishes report on Villar case

The Senate committee of the whole has already finished its report on the ethics complaint filed against Senator Manuel Villar and is now being routed for the signature of other senators. As of posting time, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, committee chairman, and Senator Panfilo Lacson had confirmed that they signed the report. They refused to divulge the contents of the report, saying it is not yet valid until signed by the majority of the committee members. "I have already signed it and it is being routed," Enrile said during the weekly news forum Kapihan sa Senado. He, however, said that it is unlikely that the report would be tackled at the plenary on Friday. "I don’t think we can get all the signatures tomorrow [Friday]. Maybe that will be done in January." Lacson, for his part, said those who are not in favor of the report still need to sign it. "They will cast a dissenting vote if they don’t believe in the findings." Last month, 12 senators signed a resolution urging the Senate to junk the ethics complaint against Villar for alleged failure of complainant Senator Ma Ana Consuelo Madrigal to prove that the latter profited from the C5 road construction project. Those who signed the resolution were Senate Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy" Estrada, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr, Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Pilar Juliana Cayetano, Lito Lapid, Gregorio Honasan II, Joker Arroyo, Miriam Defensor Santiago, Ramon Revilla Jr., Francis Pangilinan, Villar and his running mate in the 2010 elections, Loren Legarda. Estrada later withdrew his signature from the resolution to dismiss claims that he received money in exchange for it. The committee wrapped up its investigation last October. The C5 road project controversy was one of the issues hurled against Villar last year and cost him the Senate presidency on November 17, 2008. Villar had repeatedly snubbed the ethics committee proceedings chaired by Lacson, saying Lacson and the committee members including Legarda, Manuel Roxas II, Francis Escudero and Richard Gordon are his potential rivals for the presidential race in 2010. - KBK, GMANews.TV