MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Panfilo Lacson Monday asked Senate President Manuel Villar, without directly naming him, to own up to the P200-million double entry of a road extension project in the national budget that would allegedly benefit his property development empire.
“Just be man enough to admit his indiscretion. Then apologize to the taxpayers of this once great nation that put us all in this hall,” Lacson said.
In a privilege speech, Lacson also detailed other multibillion-peso lump sum allocations by Malacañang and insertions by lawmakers that bloated allocations for infrastructure projects.
“Who among us proposed the insertion of a redundant appropriation of P200 million for C-5 Road to extend the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) to Sucat Road in Parañaque City in the 2008 GAA (General Appropriations Act)?
“Who among us has business and financial interests in the development of the extension of C-5 Road, now renamed Carlos P. Garcia Avenue from SLEx to Sucat Road in Parañaque City?” Lacson asked in a speech which he read for more than an hour.
Bring it on
Lacson chided Villar for virtually declaring war against his peers at a press conference where the Senate President debunked insinuations against him.
“Mr. Senate President, if you are telling us to bring it on, just like a confident poker player with winning cards would say—and I now say to you—all in,” Lacson said.
He said the double allocations were made in two entries in the 2008 General Appropriations Act—on Page 563 and on Page 646.
“Carlos P. Garcia Ave. and C-5 Road are one and the same and so is everything else that precedes and follows. Masterful? Maybe. Neat? Well, almost,” said Lacson who stumbled on the double entry when he questioned Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya in the first Development Budget Coordinating Council hearing last Monday.
Aside from the double appropriation for the C-5 road project, Lacson also revealed another “seemingly innocent funding” for the Aguinaldo Bridge in Cavite in the 2008 budget.
On page 564 of the 2008 General Appropriations Act, Lacson said an appropriation of P50 million was allotted for the project but that on page 646 of the same budget book, an allocation of P50 million was also allotted for the repair and rehabilitation of the same project.
In the Senate version of the bill, Lacson noted an increase of P3,950,000,000. But when the proposal reached the bicameral conference committee, it became P4.1 billion.
“Because under Item H, described as "Other national public works/local infrastructure projects, the biggest lump sum of P1.76 billion almost doubled to P3,426,500,000,” he said.
“So not only do we have double entries in the line budget items. We also have double entries in the lump sum appropriations,” he pointed out.
Lacson cited the following insertions in the Senate:
• Kibawe-Kadingilan-Kalinangan Road, P5 million; and Don Carlos-Kadingilan Road, P25 million, both in Bukidnon;
• Construction of access road, West Lateral Dike connecting to Hacienda Dolores, Porac Interchange of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, P100 million;
• For the completion of the Cagayan de Oro International Trade and Convention Multi-Purpose Center, P100 million;
• Tagaytay-Silang Road, Balalang-Matanda section, P13 million;
• Construction of Molino Boulevard, in Cavite, including right of way, P37 million;
• Construction of C-5 Road Extension from SLEX [Southern Luzon Expressway] to Sucat, including right of way, P200 million -- the first discovered double entry;
• Aguinaldo Bridge, P50 million -- the second discovered double entry; and
• P200 million for Maharlika Road.
Lacson said included in these Senate insertions were these lump sum appropriations:
• Repair and rehabilitation, including improvement of safety standards of various roads along public schools, P100 million;
• Flood Control and Drainage System, P500 million;
• Construction, repair and rehabilitation of government facilities including educational facilities, P760 million;
• Rehabilitation, reconstruction of damaged paved national roads generated from payment management system, highway development and management nationwide, P50 million;
• Road upgrading, gravel to concrete, based on gravel road, strategies traffic benchmark for upgrading to paved road standard, nationwide: P50 million.
Billboard
Lacson used his privilege speech to clarify that he never accused Villar of being responsible for the congressional insertions and that he merely stated as fact that the project had the latter’s billboard and was the subject of a photo release from his office.
“Being an investigator for many, many years, my instinct was to identify the project proponent from among the members of both Houses of Congress,” he said.
“Looking for evidence in this case is a no-brainer, just look for the billboard in the project site, and I would get an answer,” he said.
“I simply followed the narrow trail and it led me to you, Mr. Senate President,” he said.
Lacson questioned Villar’s “violent reaction” to the double entry. “Mr. Senate President, do not act as if you are the victim in this whole exercise, because you are not,” he said.
“This is not about politics. This is not about 2010. This is about corruption. Corruption committed right in this hall, involving one of us, plain and simple.”
“Everybody therefore, except that one among us, should be standing up to denounce and investigate this abominable act of corruption committed right under our noses during our budget deliberations; everyone, except that one who abused our trust and goodwill as fellow senators,” he added.
Lacson took to task Public Works Undersecretary Manuel Bonoan and Nacionalista Party spokesperson Gilbert Remulla for claiming that the first P200-million entry was for the C-5 road extension and the second P200-million entry for the construction of a flyover from Sucat Road to Manila-Coastal Road.
“Why did the budget not specifically describe each of the P200-million entries as in the other appropriations for several projects in the same 2008 budget? If a P25-million project in Las Piñas City was explained in detail and in its exact location, what more P200 million?” Lacson said.
Villar’s allies in the Senate were also skewered by Lacson for claiming that the P200 million was “a molehill” (Sen. Joker Arroyo) and “loose change” (Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano).
Attack on Senate
Rising on a question of personal and collective privilege, Arroyo chided Lacson for maligning the Senate with his baseless allegations against Villar.
“Personal because I was mentioned. Collective because Senator Lacson attacked the integrity of all the members of the Senate, the staff, including the support staff, of the Senate. So in effect, Senator Lacson attacked the integrity of the Senate,” Arroyo said.
Arroyo was about to continue when the microphone went off, prompting the chair to adjourn the session for the third time since Lacson made the speech.
In an interview, Arroyo later said that Lacson’s call for an investigation of the P200-million insertion in the C-5 extension project was improper because “it presupposes that there is a wrongdoing.”
No wrongdoing
Arroyo said there was no wrongdoing. “We should first define whether something wrong was committed. Was the additional P200 million a wrong thing? Because if it was not a wrong thing, what are you going to investigate? To me it’s not wrong,” he said.
Arroyo said that Lacson, a member of the bicameral committee that threshed out the budget, had no reason to complain.
“He’s like a security guard who slept on his job and after something is stolen, then he will make a complaint … If he were a policeman, he would be fired,” Arroyo said.
Villar himself said that he did not steal anything from the government and had no intention of stealing.
Villar said that while he agreed with Lacson on the need to weed out corruption in government, the matter of budget appropriations should be fully explained to the people to avoid confusion.
“As Senate President I am not involved in making the budget,” he said.
Enrile, chair of the finance committee, said that senators had been asked to submit their proposed amendments to the budget which were then threshed out by his committee.
“As chair of the finance committee, I feel responsible for the budget. I have the materials here regarding the proposed amendments made by each senators and the justifications for amendments,” Enrile said.
He said that these insertions were just amendments to the allocation of funds based on priorities which the committee considered necessary to serve the public interest.
Power over purse
Enrile said many of the amendments were initiated not by members of Congress but by the public, by the agencies themselves who felt that they did not get what was necessary to support their programs to serve the people.
The insertion itself was not really something sinister or malicious, he said.
“We have the power over the purse. We can change the composition, the allocation of the funds. We can transfer funds from one agency or one department to another department depending upon our perception as representatives of the people what is for the national good,” Enrile said.
In fact, Enrile said that of 23 senators, only six did not submit any amendment in the 2008 budget -- Alan Peter Cayetano, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, Rodolfo Biazon, Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal, and Antonio Trillanes IV.
Citing loss of confidence, Madrigal had asked Villar to resign.
“To me, this is a major of corruption in the Senate. This has to be investigated but since all fingers point to Senator Villar, I have asked him to resign because there is not only a crisis of confidence, there is a crisis of leadership,” Madrigal said ahead of Lacson’s speech Monday.
Asked if the opposition has started recruiting senators on their side, Madrigal said, “Even if that were happening, do you think we would tell you? You should never tell your enemy.”
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Villar’s partymate in the Nacionalista Party, said Lacson was only after publicity.
“If he’s sincere, then all he has to do is wait for the budget hearing so he can ask all these questions. His is shoot first, ask questions later. So he ends up shooting himself on the foot,” Cayetano said.
