Comelec asked to probe Villar's source of funds

A lawyer of one of the presidential contenders in the May 10 elections asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday to look into the source of funds of Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar Jr. In a 21-page complaint, Ernesto Francisco, lawyer of independent candidate Sen. Jamby Madrigal, noted that Villar has been spending billions in his campaign despite having only P29,212,803 "cash in bank" based on his Statement of Assets and Liabilities (SALN) in 2008.

"Tinatanong ko, kung ang pera niya ay 29 million lamang, saan siya kumukuha ng bilyun-bilyong perang ginagasta niya (What I’m asking is, if Villar’s money is only P29 million, where did he get the billions of money that he has been spending)," Francisco told reporters after filing the complaint with the Comelec Law Department. Francisco said even if Villar were to liquidate all of his other declared assets, the proceeds would still be "insufficient and inadequate" to fund the said expenses. He, however, clarified that he was not acting on behalf of Madrigal, who has accused Villar of exerting his influence to benefit financially in the government’s C-5 road extension project. No comment Gilbert Remulla, NP spokesperson and senatorial candidate, refused to comment on the complaint filed by Francisco. He, however, insisted that Villar has enough funds to run his presidential campaign. "I think that’s not worth commenting about because we know that Senator Villar had the IPO [initial public offering of his companies] and he has his own platform to be able to run his campaign," Remulla said at a press conference in Pasay City on Monday. Lawyer Adel Tamano, another NP senatorial bet, also refused to comment, saying he has yet to see the complaint. Villar, a self-made billionaire, ranked 9th in Forbes Magazine’s list of wealthiest Filipinos in 2009. Vista Land In his complaint, Francisco said Villar cannot claim that his funds came from his real estate businesses, specifically Vista Land and Lifescapes, Inc., which has Polar Property Holdings, Corp., Calveston Investments Limited, Althorp Holdings, Inc., Cameron Global Limited Golden Haven Memorial Park, Inc. and Cambridge Inc. as its shareholders. "While Senator Villar is the major or principal stockholder of the aforementioned local corporations, the funds and assets of the said corporations do not belong to him, but rather, to the said corporations," he said in his complaint. He said that local corporations and foreign companies are all prohibited by law from giving contributions to Villar or to any other candidate in the elections. Under Section 95 of the Omnibus Election Code, corporations "which have been granted franchises, incentives, exemptions and similar allocations or concessions by the government or any of its divisions, subdivisions or instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled corporations" are prohibited from giving financial contributions for any partisan political activity. Francisco said the corporations under Vista Land are covered by this provision "Dapat ito ay pigilin ng Comelec... dapat sampahan ng sapat na charges yung mga nasasangkot sa ganyang anomalya (This should be stopped by the Comelec, they should file the appropriate charges against everyone involved in this anomaly)," he said. Remulla said it was not up to them to answer this allegation. "If there is any of this contribution or alleged contributions or allegations of it, I think the Vista Land should be able to answer it properly," he said. - KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV