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Tag: C-5

Sen. Trillanes’ position on ethics case of Sen. Manny Villar

1. This is NOT my fight and this should not be the people’s fight as well. Our fight should be with Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and we should not be distracted from this. She’s about to appoint a new AFP Chief of Staff and a new Chief Justice in March. These appointments and how they will be done (particularly for the CJ) would be indicators of whether she has plans of stepping down or not. Aside from these, the prospect of the failure of elections scenario is still up in the air. In short, anything that deflects attention from her is playing according to her script. We must always remain vigilant and must never underestimate her.

2. It is a graft case and not an ethics case. Bulk of the evidence presented dealt with acts committed as early 1999 when Sen. Villar was still a congressman and during his first term as Senator. I believe that ethics cases should only cover acts committed after the mandate was given which, in this case, is 2007. With that, the only evidence left would be the double insertion in the General Appropriations Act (GAA). The problem is, the draft of the GAA was approved and presented to the plenary by the Finance Committee which was then headed by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile. Said GAA was later on approved by the majority in the Senate. Therefore, assuming there were double insertions, it was the responsibility of Sen. Enrile’s staff to scrutinize the GAA and correct all anomalies and typo errors before being approved by Sen. Enrile. When it was approved by Sen. Enrile and presented to the plenary, it now became the responsibility of each Senator to scrutinize it again before approving it. Therefore, all those who voted for the approval of the GAA became equally liable for that double insertion.

It’s politics, not ethics

This is another view on the C-5 controvery:

by Rene B. Azurin
BusinessWorld

More credibility, probably, would attach to the Senate committee report on its so-called “investigations” into the C-5 road project controversy if senators — most politicos, actually — were not widely perceived as being distinctly unshy, brazen even, about using their considerable power to influence government decisions on public works and procurement. That said, I would certainly give great weight to the C-5 allegations being leveled at Senator Villar if I were satisfied that they were true. I am not.

On an issue precisely of ethics, objective observers must wonder how senators — like presidential candidate Aquino’s Liberal Party partymate Mr. Pangilinan — can first affix their signatures to one resolution clearing Mr. Villar and then about-face 180 degrees to affix their signatures to another one censuring him, just because “it’s the party stand.” Well, that, at least, is an explicit admission of how “honorable” senators define ethics.

Although Mr. Villar has actually already made a point-by-point rebuttal in the Senate itself of the charges of “ethical misconduct” against him and has clearly taken pains to make available to the public — through media — documents supporting his answers to each allegation, he is, alas, simply not media’s darling. Thus, media outfits whose bias for his rivals is obvious to observers constantly detail the allegations against him in their stories on the controversy and formulaically just include his denials but not his specific answers to the allegations. Such is life in these politico- and elite-dominated islands.

Tunay na kulay

Kahit na pangit ang nangyayari ngayon sa Senado, mabuti na rin dahil lumalabas ang tunay na kulay ng marami sa kanila.

Kung hindi sila nagbabangayan, di hindi sana natin nalaman ang mga behind the scenes na ginawa ni Sen. Manny Villar katulad ng pakiki-usap kay Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile na parang ang dating daw ay nag-aalok ng tulong kapalit ang favorable na report tungkol sa C-5 road extension na proyekto.

Nalulungkot lang ako sa nangyari kay Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. na malaki rin naman ang kontribusyon sa ating demokrasya sa kanyang paglaban sa diktaturang Marcos.

Tensions run high in C-5 showdown

by JP Lopez
Malaya

Tension ran high yesterday as Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile reported out to the plenary Committee Report 780 censuring Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. for allegedly using his position to realign the C-5 road extension project that will benefit his and his family’s real estate firms.

Villar, who never showed up at any of the committee’s deliberations to answer the accusations against him, was a virtual no-show, arriving at the session hall only after the session was adjourned.

Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. tried to delay the sponsorship speech of Enrile by questioning the Senate procedure on treating committee reports and resolutions.

Kaban ng Bayan, Bantayan, (part II)

(The second privilege speech of Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson which the camp of Senate President Manny Villar tried, but failed, to block. September 22, 2008)

ping-lacson.jpgI would not have taken the floor today as I am concerned the core issue of corruption in the national budget will be diverted. But for the lies that are now part of the Senate record and other misinterpretations of the contents of my privilege speech last Monday by the gentleman from Makati and Camarines Sur, I now rise on a matter of personal and collective privilege.

I will not dignify by wasting a second of the Senate’s time, however, the points raised by the other fanatical defender of the Senate President. Arguing with the gentleman, I am afraid, would be like talking to a chatterbox in a TV paid advertisement.

Going back to the points raised by Sen. Arroyo, or at least some of them, without conceding of course that the other issues raised are correct, please allow me to state here and now: