MANILA, Philippines -- Saying he was willing to be bloodied for his convictions, Senator Panfilo Lacson on Monday vowed he “will never run away” from the issue of the alleged double appropriation of P200 million in last year’s budget, of which he accused Senate President Manuel Villar.

“This is one fight I will never run away from,” Lacson in a speech Monday, a week after accusing Villar of the double appropriation for the construction of the C-5 road extension project in Parañaque City.

“Alam kong tama ang pinaglalaban ko at handa akong makipagbasagan ng mukha at makipagputukan ng kilay ano man ang kalabasan nag pinaglalaban kong ito [I know what I am fighting for is right and I am ready to get my face bloodied and my brows spit whatever the outcome of what I am fighting for is],’ he said.

Before this, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano tried to block Lacson from delivering his speech, saying the opposition senator has to admit first that he made a mistake when he delivered his first speech linking Villar to the double appropriation last week .

The session was suspended for an hour. When it resumed, Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan said Cayetano was withdrawing his parliamentary inquiry.

Meanwhile, with the C-5 controversy and other pending measures on the floor, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile wants to restore the four-day workweek at the Senate.

At present, the Senate holds sessions from Monday to Wednesday only.

But Enrile wants to hold sessions on Thursdays, saying the present schedule is “much too short to tackle our most important duty, which is to craft legislation.”

“There is so much work and so little time to do it. Three days is not enough to consider the merits and demerits of the bills filed, either in the House or in the Senate,” he said on the floor. “It is not enough to accommodate all debates and amendments necessary to fine-tune these pieces of legislation pending before us.”

Enrile also said he sees the need to investigate the alleged double appropriation in the 2008 .

“As chairman of the finance committee, I believe there is a need for the institution to cleanse itself, either by punishing the guilty or exonerating the innocent, and more importantly, to officially explain to the people what actually happened during the budget process,” he said.

“We have to determine the truth or falsity of the charge. And we can only do that later conducting an open, transparent and fair investigation.”