Enrile to Villar: ‘Bribery will be your downfall’

Don’t use your billions to buy your way out of the controversy hounding you. This seemed to be Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile's message to Senator Manuel Villar Jr. on Tuesday, as he disclosed an alleged attempt by the embattled presidential candidate to bribe him in connection with the Senate investigation of the C-5 road project. “I would like to caution Senator Villar about his propensity to use his billions to offer favors to people, including his colleagues, to avoid facing the charges against him," Enrile said in a statement. "To use your money to bribe people just because you want to kill the investigation instead of facing the charges against you… is the worst disservice you can do to this nation. The people will see through any attempt to use money to win the presidency. Not everyone can be bought. Bribery will be your downfall," Enrile said. Enrile, who chairs the Senate Committee of the Whole, revealed that he met with Villar at the Japanese restaurant Inagiku at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel last year to discuss the Senate’s investigation on Villar’s culpability in the C-5 mess. Villar, the country's richest senator, supposedly made repeated offers to Enrile for help with anything he needed. “Several times during that meeting, Senator Villar interjected: 'Manong, baka naman may maitutulong ako sa inyo. Makakatulong naman ako kung may kailangan kayo,'" Enrile quoted Villar as saying. But Enrile said he brushed aside Villar’s offer and told the latter he could only promise that he would be fair in the Senate investigation on the C-5 issue. “Manny, gusto kitang tulungan. What I can promise you is that I will be fair to you. I will not allow the hearings to go beyond the issues referred to the Committee nor for it to be turned into a fishing expedition," was Enrile's reply to Villar, according to the Senate President. But Villar immediately denied Enrile's claim, saying "No help was asked and none was given." He added that he met with Enrile several times ever since the C-5 controversy erupted, "But in these meetings with him, I can’t remember offering to help him with anything in exchange for him helping me. At wala pa naman akong Alzheimer’s, at wala pa rin si JPE, kaya baka na-misquote lang siya," Villar said. Earlier, Nacionalista Party spokesperson and senatorial bet Gilbert Remulla told GMANews.TV that Enrile's claims were "not true. It’s his word against Senator Villar's because they are political enemies." The C-5 controversy Enrile made the disclosure against Villar a day after he presented the Senate Committee of the Whole's report seeking Villar’s censure for supposedly exerting his influence on the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) so that his properties would benefit from the C-5 Road Extension project. The Senate report said Villar should return the P6.22 billion the government lost because of the alleged anomalies that benefited Villar in the C-5 Road Extension project. The road extension was supposedly realigned from the government’s original plan and made to pass through Villar’s properties to gain a road-right-of-way compensation, which the Senate found to be overpriced. Villar has repeatedly said the C-5 Road Extension was not realigned from the government’s original plan and that he did not benefit from the controversial project. Villar said he was “hurt" by Enrile’s “false story," adding that there was no need for him to seek help from Enrile. “Bakit ako hihingi ng tulong e hindi naman ako guilty at wala naman akong ginawang masama? Lahat ng dokumentong sinubmit at lahat ng nag-testify sa Senado 'yan ang sinabi," he said. “I was confident that the documents, the records, the witnesses, and the rules will prove that the C-5 road project was not double-funded, overpriced or rerouted," he added. Politically-motivated? Villar claimed that the Senate report on the C-5 controversy was “conceived in malice and was meant to embarrass me so I will not be a factor in these elections." Recent surveys have shown Villar, who has been placing second in the presidential surveys, gaining against front runner Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III. “Nagsimula ito ng umakayat ako sa surveys. Nang gumaganda numero ko, pumapangit naman ang mga atake nila sa akin," Villar said. “Tumatakbo ako ng maayos, kaya eto, pinapatid nila ako." The Senate investigation on the C-5 controversy started in 2008 but the report on the hearings only came out last week. Villar has refused to answer the charges on the senate floor, and has instead chosen to explain his side in press conferences. On Tuesday, Senate Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy" Estrada and Senator Manuel Roxas II reiterated their calls for Villar to face the chamber to clear his name. “Ang issue dito, ginawa ba ito ni Sen. Villar o hindi? 'Wag na natin ilihis ang usapan (The issue here is, did Sen. Villar make the realignment or not. Let’s not divert the issue)," said Roxas. - with a report from AIE BALAGTAS SEE/YA, GMANews.TV