MANILA, Philippines—Opposition Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano Friday warned his colleagues that the Senate was being used “wittingly or unwittingly” by the administration to cut down Sen. Manuel Villar’s chances in the 2010 presidential elections.

Cayetano said internal wranglings in the Senate would also make the institution a weak chamber unable to oppose the House-sponsored Charter change (Cha-cha) initiative.

“Malacañang wants to push through with Cha-cha, discredit the Senate and stop the investigations into government corruption and abuses,” he told reporters Friday.

“In this ethics case, who benefits from this? Malacañang and pro-Cha-cha advocates. What Malacañang failed to achieve until now has already been achieved,” said Cayetano, a known confidant of Villar.

“Wittingly or unwittingly, the presidentiables in the opposition are actually helping President Macapagal-Arroyo, and helping the move for Cha-cha.”

Ethics case on C-5

Villar is facing an ethics case amid charges that his real estate empire had benefited from the C-5 Road extension project in Parañaque City.

Besides Villar, the other aspirants for the country’s top post are Francis Escudero, Loren Legarda, Panfilo Lacson, Mar Roxas and Richard Gordon.

The House of Representatives is set to have a plenary debate on the Cha-cha proposal of Speaker Prospero Nograles—House Resolution No. 737—that seeks to lift foreign investment restrictions in media, real estate and natural resources.

But Nograles and the other advocates of the bill concede that it is too late to make any amendments to the Constitution before the 2010 elections.

Committee of the whole

On Thursday, the Senate convened as a committee of the whole to ascertain the sufficiency of a complaint lodged against Villar for alleged conflict of interest and violation of the code of conduct governing government officials and employees. But the entire time was spent quibbling over the rules.

Raising the issue of a quorum and other technicalities, Villar’s minority allies succeeded in derailing the scheduled preliminary inquiry, which is akin to a justice department preliminary investigation.

The next hearing was set for Monday when the minority will ask again the committee of the whole to scrutinize the sufficiency of the complaint.

“That will determine what charges are under Senate jurisdiction,” Cayetano said.

‘Dilatory tactics’

Lacson, the ethics committee chair, decried the minority’s “dilatory” tactics, saying it had been given enough time and opportunity to study the rules.

Earlier, Lacson challenged Villar to answer the charges and moved to have the Senate, acting as a committee of the whole, to try his colleague.

Cayetano, however, said the minority could not participate in the ethics committee investigation since it was a “pack of wolves,” referring to Villar’s fellow presidential aspirants who were panel members.

The senator lamented that the chamber had already focused on pinning down Villar to the detriment of other investigations such as the anomalous Northrail and Southrail projects.

“It’s not about justice anymore. If they’re saying that we are engaged in dilatory tactics, ang sinasabi ko naman, ay niraratsada nila at kinukuyog nila si Senator Villar (what they are doing is railroading the process and ganging up on Senator Villar).