MANILA, Philippines--Instead of using the Senate for ?malicious imputations? on Senate President Manuel Villar, his detractors should bring the issue to court, Nacionalista Party (NP) spokesperson Gilbert Remulla said yesterday.

Remulla made the statement a day before Sen. Panfilo Lacson is scheduled to deliver a privilege speech on the supposed double funding of the C-5 extension project.

It was Lacson who reportedly ?spotted? the double entry in the national budget.

?We challenge them to file the right cases in court and not to let this drag on in, say, for lack of a better word, sensational areas such as the Senate. The court is the proper venue,? Remulla said at a forum in Sampaloc, Manila.

Remulla said Villar, the NP head who has declared his intention to run in the 2010 presidential election, had nothing to do with the alleged ?insertion? in the General Appropriations Act of 2008.

Some senators led by Lacson are calling for an investigation of the ?double? allocation for the C-5 Road extension project that is being linked to Villar.

The total funding of P400 million for the C-5 circumferential road contained in the GAA will be allotted for two sections of the extension project, the NP spokesperson said.

The GAA appropriated P200 million for a section of the C-5 on Page 563 and a separate P200 million for several sections on Page 646, said Remulla, a former Cavite congressman.

?The funding is for unfinished portions. It?s a road that?s not yet done and needs continuous funding,? he said.

Remulla said the first P200 million would go to the construction of a flyover crossing Sucat Road in Parañaque City, while the second P200 million would be for a flyover crossing R-1 (Manila-Cavite Coastal Road), and road improvement and construction of intermittent sections from Sucat Road to R-1.

Britanny Corp.
At the same forum, Ernesto Francisco Jr. said Villar should be investigated for allegedly having financial interest in government transactions, which he claimed was a violation of the Constitution.

Francisco earlier claimed that Brittany Corp., one of Villar?s real estate concerns, had obtained P92.3 million in compensation from the government for 6,155 square meters of its property that was acquired for the right of way of the C-5 extension project.

Stupidity
Coming to the defense of Villar, Sen. Joker Arroyo said the senators seeking a probe of the ?double? allocation approved the same funding in the 2008 budget deliberations.

?I?m not protecting Manny Villar. I?m just pointing out their stupidity. They were members (of the bicameral committee that approved the 2008 budget) and now they would be the first one to shout against it. They should have looked at the documents first instead of shouting their mouths off,? Arroyo said.

In an interview on dzBB radio, Arroyo said Congress was supposed to either concur in or amend but not add to Malacañang?s proposed budget. He said an insertion was considered an amendment.

?For example, if Malacañang had appropriated P200 million for C-5 and the Senate wanted to make it P400 million. Under the Constitution, we can do it and they did it,? said Arroyo, who saw nothing illegal about the redundant appropriation.

3 approval stages
He noted that the budget amendments went through three approval stages in the Senate alone and a final review in the bicameral committee.

He pointed out that Senators Lacson, Loren Legarda and Mar Roxas and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel signed the bicameral committee report endorsing the 2008 budget and that these senators had several opportunities to correct the twice-funded C-5 road extension project.

Arroyo pointed out that both administration and opposition lawmakers from Cavite and Parañaque City also endorsed the budget because it would benefit their respective districts.

?So what?s wrong about that (double appropriation)? If we cannot touch Malacañang?s budget proposal, what is our budget approval for? This item has been in our Official Gazette since March and after six months they?ll come up and say, eureka, we discovered something,? Arroyo said.

Instead of pinning the blame on a single person, Arroyo said the entire Senate should share the blame for the C-5 road double entry.

?We signed it. We are all accountable for it,? said Arroyo.

He said the probe would go the way of other investigations in which senators would just ham it up to the cameras without working on a committee report to tie up the probe.

Straying far from slogan
Lacson, who was interviewed on the radio program before Arroyo, had mocked Arroyo for straying far from his campaign slogan ?Pag Bad Ka, Lagot Ka.?

He chided Arroyo for belittling the P200-million double appropriation as a ?molehill.?

Arroyo mockingly laughed at the thought of senators investigating themselves for endorsing the insertions in the budget.

?We will investigate, then we will say everyone is at fault except us. I am now admitting I was among those (the four vice chairs) who signed,? he said.

Arroyo said senators were forced to make insertions to accommodate their allies in local government. This meant taking out some items because Congress could not add more to the total budget sought by the President.