CEBU CITY?Sen. Richard Gordon Thursday denied that it was Sen. Edgardo Angara who served as the emissary of Sen. Manuel Villar in the purported attempt to bribe him into withdrawing from the presidential election.

Gordon made the denial in reaction to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile?s remark on Wednesday that in his estimation, Angara was Villar?s emissary.

?The emissary is not Senator Angara?that?s definite,? Gordon told reporters in a chance interview at the Waterfront Hotel. He described the emissary as a businessman who used to work in the government.

But Gordon continued to dwell on the issue, saying the one thing that stood out in the offer made by the emissary was Villar?s purported willingness to reimburse all his campaign expenses, whatever the amount, provided that he would withdraw from the presidential race.

?The hook there was the withdrawal... The suggestion was to extend the withdrawal up to the last [minute], as much as I wanted it, so the [amount to be reimbursed] would be bigger,? he said.

Blank check

Asked if the offer was tantamount to a blank check, Gordon said: ?Practically. They were that desperate.

?The objective was not my withdrawal from the campaign because he had always said that he had a lot of money. The objective was to protect himself from [the committee report on the C-5 road extension project].?

With the purported offer made last Jan. 19, Gordon pointed out that he would have had a little less than four months worth of campaign expenses reimbursed by Villar?if he agreed.

?When an offer is made, I perish the thought right away. I don?t even consider it because I don?t want to be tempted,? he said.

History

Gordon called attention to how exactly Villar had amassed his wealth.

He claimed that Villar benefited from the P42 billion that the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. borrowed from the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance Corp. and Pag-IBIG fund from 1988 to 1994.

He said the government was left shouldering the burden left by some 53,000 bad loans.

?He has a history,? Gordon said of Villar. ?If this is pieced together, he is living on a deck of cards. He?s covering his tracks.?