MANILA, Philippines?He said. He said.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile Tuesday accused Sen. Manuel Villar of attempting to bribe him during the height of the investigation into allegations against the latter in connection with the C-5 road extension project controversy.

Enrile said Villar, standard-bearer of the Nacionalista Party, tried to buy him off ?in exchange for a favorable decision.?

The Senate President said Villar offered the bribe at a luncheon meeting in a Makati hotel four months ago when the Senate committee of the whole was looking into allegations he was behind the double funding of the C-5 road project and its diversion to benefit his real estate business.

Asked why he was disclosing the incident only now, Enrile said he wanted to show Villar?s effort ?to suppress the case.?

?I did not want to reveal it then because I do not want to damage his case,? Enrile said.

Villar denied Enrile?s accusation, saying he had neither sought Enrile?s help on the Senate inquiry nor offered him a bribe.

?I was confident that the documents, the records, the witnesses and the rules will prove that the C-5 road project was not double-funded, overpriced or rerouted,? Villar said in a statement, explaining why he could not have offered a bribe to Enrile.

Enrile made his latest allegation against Villar initially in a radio interview. He later issued a statement detailing the incident and spoke to reporters about it in the Senate.

The Senate President, who prepared the committee report against Villar, has accused the senator of being behind moves to oust him to stop the chamber from tackling the report

But the chamber started to tackle the other day Committee Report No. 780, which seeks to censure Villar for allegedly not declaring his conflict of interest and for using his position to increase the value of his properties through the C-5 road project in Las Piñas and Parañaque.

The government supposedly paid huge amounts to Villar?s real estate firms for the right of way on his properties.

The committee report recommended the censure of Villar and the return of P6.2 billion for the cost of the project and the amount that Villar?s companies purportedly gained from the project.

Villar sought meeting

In an interview and in his prepared statement, Enrile said that it was Villar who had sought the luncheon meeting on Aug. 29 last year in a restaurant at the Makati Shangri-La hotel.

He said he and Villar had met three times before the luncheon meeting.

During that meeting, he recalled that Villar was seeking his help ?because he was concerned about the investigation? and that Villar had told him he did nothing wrong in the C-5 project.

Enrile said he advised Villar to participate in or send his lawyers to the hearing of the committee of the whole so the latter could air his side.

?Several times during that meeting, Senator Villar interjected: ?Manong, baka naman may maitutulong ako sa inyo. Makakatulong naman ako kung may kailangan kayo (Elder brother, maybe I can help you if you need something),?? Enrile said in the statement.

He said he ?ignored? Villar?s statements, which according to him, made him ?uncomfortable.?

Still, Enrile said he told Villar he wanted to help him and assured him that he would be fair to him.

But Enrile said Villar reiterated his offer, prompting him to tell the latter, ?Manny, if I help you, don?t worry. Walang kapalit yon (I don?t expect something in return).?

Asked whether he construed Villar?s offer as a bribe try, Enrile said: ?The way the matter was addressed itself to me was that he was trying to buy me off.?

Enrile said he could not write a committee report that was favorable to Villar without any evidence presented by the latter to defend his position.

Offer repeated to chief of staff

The Senate President said that he made an excuse to leave the luncheon and that his chief of staff, lawyer Gigi Reyes, stayed behind. Still, Villar ?continued to repeat the same thing? to Reyes, Enrile said.

Enrile said he did not tell members of the committee of the whole about the incident.

In his statement, Enrile cautioned Villar ?about his propensity to use his billions to offer favors to people, including his colleagues to avoid facing the charges against him.?

Do like Erap

?I want to tell Senator Villar, being an aspirant to the highest position in the land: ?I know you have helped a lot of people because you came from a poor family,?? Enrile said.

?Now that you are rich, you are in a better position to help more of the needy among the people. But to use your money to bribe people just because you want to kill the investigation instead of facing the charges against you, like President Estrada did, is a disservice you can do to this nation,? he said.

Enrile said people would see through any attempt to use money to win the presidency. ?Not everyone can be bought. Bribery will be your downfall,? he said.

In a statement, Villar wondered why he would seek Enrile?s help in the case against him.

?Why would I seek his help when I am not guilty and I did not do something bad? All the documents I submitted and all those who testified in the Senate attested to that,? he said.

Hurt by false story

Looking back, Villar said he thought he was dealing with honorable men who would view things fairly and impartially. ?I was wrong,? he said, adding that he was ?hurt? by Enrile?s ?false story.?

Villar reiterated his claim that the investigation against him was ?conceived in malice and was meant to embarrass me so I will not be a factor in these elections.?

He said the attacks against him became ugly when his ratings in surveys improved.

?I?m running for president properly. That?s why they?re trying to trip me. And 12 people are doing that to me,? Villar said.