Ducky Paredes

Malaya (12.01.09)

 

“Why was the approval of the resolution not signed by the whole Senate? Politics may well be the answer.”

by Ducky Paredes

When the Senate started investigating Senator Manny Villar on what was termed as a “double insertion,” meaning that two items for the same expense were inserted in the budget with the intention of defrauding the government, I thought that this to be quite unlikely.  After all, no matter how badly run any government is, there are internal and audit controls that would easily discover such discrepancies.

Now, 12 senators, including Manny Villar, have signed a resolution exonerating Villar.

Here is the explanation of what was bruited about as a nefarious act on the part of the former Senate President:

“When Senator Villar submitted several proposed amendments to the 2008 GAA, one of them being a P400 million allocation for the C-5 Road Extension Project, he was not committing any ‘disorderly behavior,’ even if the amount is double the amount that the Finance Committee advised the Senators they could propose as amendment.  Being merely a proposal, the LBRMO (Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office) and the Finance Committee lowered the amount to only P200 million, which the Senate approved.

“It should be noted that when the 2008 GAA was referred to the Senate from the House, there was already a P200 Million item there, albeit identified for President Carlos P. Garcia Avenue, which is the same as the C-5 Road Extension Project. However, instead of simply adding its approved amendment of another P200 million allocation for the C-5 Road Extension Project to the other P200 million that the House allocated for the President Carlos P. Garcia Avenue to become only one item, the Senate made its P200 million amendment as a separate item. As a consequence, there appeared two P200 million allocations for the same C-5 Road Extension Project, one from the House, indicated for President Carlos P. Garcia Avenue, and the other, from the Senate, for the C-5 Road Extension Project.

“It is clear that even if the other P200 million amendment approved by the Senate from Senator Villar’s original proposed amendment of P400 million for the C-5 Road Extension Project, may be called by the pejorative word  “insertion,’ it cannot be attributed to Senator Villar nor could he be held liable for it as ‘disorderly behavior’ on his part. Senator Villar did not himself make the ‘insertion’; he merely proposed the item as an amendment to the 2008 GAA. He did not have discretion on its final inclusion or ‘insertion.’ His proposed amendment had to undergo, as it did, a distillation process, first by the LBRMO, then the Finance Committee, and finally, the Senate. The entry of the amount of P200 million as another allocation for the C-5 Road Extension Project was not Senator Villar’s doing; it was the LBRMO, then the Finance Committee and finally the Senate that did it. Therefore, no malice or bad faith could be imputed on Senator Villar by the ‘insertion’ of another P200 million as a separate item from the House allocation of the same amount for the same C-5 Road Extension Project.

“Malice and bad faith cannot be presumed; they must be proved by competent evidence.  This, complainant Senator  Madrigal utterly failed to establish as not one of the witnesses she presented gave testimony that Senator Villar was actuated by malice or bad faith in proposing the amendment to the 2008 GAA in question. Truth to tell, Atty. Doblon saw nothing irregular, much less illegal in Senator Villar’s act of proposing the said amendment. This was confirmed by no less than the Committee Chairman, Senate President Enrile.

“There is likewise nothing irregular or illegal in the inclusion of two separate allocations of the same amount of P200 million in the 2008 GAA for the C-5 Road Extension Project. There is no law or rule that requires the Senate to include or add its proposed amendment to the allocations of the House for the same item in the GAA in order that the two items become only one, and failure or omission to do so would result in the invalidation or nullity of the Senate amendment. The fact is that the C-5 Road Extension Project needs more than the two P200 million allocations for its completion. Engineer Adriano’s testimony, which is not denied or proven false by countervailing evidence by complainant, is that the C-5 Road Extension Project requires some P4.2 billion to complete,  and surely the two P200 million allocations for it in the 2008 GAA represent a measly ten percent of the total amount required; therefore,   it is simply wrong to say there was ‘double insertion.’

“Not having anything to do with the final disposition of his proposed amendments to the 2008 GAA, Senator Villar cannot be accused of proposing the amendments in order to benefit himself and his real estate companies. The Senate’s role in the enactment of the GAA starts and ends with its proposing and approving amendments thereto. Once approved and signed into law by the President of the Philippines, the Senate or the Senators no longer have anything to do with the disposition or implementation of the GAA, which belongs solely to the implementing agencies of the Executive Department.

“There is nothing from the evidence presented to even suggest that Senator Villar ever intervened in the disposition or implementation of the 2008 GAA as to derive benefit for himself or his real estate companies to the detriment of the Filipino people. On the contrary, the record shows that other land owners in the same area of Las Piñas and Parañaque whose lands were also taken by the DPWH as ROW for the C-5 Road Extension Project were long paid ahead for their lands, while some companies of Senator Villar, like the Golden Haven Memorial Park and API, have not even filed the requisite documents with the DPWH to facilitate payment.  

“It is undisputed that the C-5 Extension Road project requires some P4.2 billion to complete.   It is interesting to note that the counsel of complainant Senator Madrigal, despite the long array of expert witnesses, particularly those from the DPWH, purposely and intentionally absconded queries pertaining to the total monetary requirement to fund the whole project.  The deliberate elusiveness by complainant Senator Madrigal’s counsel to ask questions on this concern speaks for itself: the project is as regular as its funding requirement.”

That is it! Now, perhaps, we can get back to choosing the next president without bothering our decision with the cobwebs created by the false accusation. The resolution was signed by Senators Nene Pimentel, Allan and Pia Cayetano, Lito Lapid, Gregoriio Honasan, Joker Arroyo, Miriam Defensor Santiagao, Ramon Revila, Jr., Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, Loren Legarda (among the accusers) Francis Pangilinan and Manny Villar himself.

Why was the approval of the resolution not signed by the whole Senate? Politics may well be the answer to that one.

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Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com

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hvp 11.30.09

Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com