Sen. Cynthia Villar. INQUIRER.net PHOTO
We are home builders, not contractors of the Department of Public Works and Highways.
This was how Sen. Cynthia Villar reacted on Tuesday to questions raised against the impending appointment of her son, Las Piñas Rep. Mark Villar, to the helm of the agency.
READ: Mark Villar accepts Cabinet post under Duterte
“We don’t build roads, we build subdivisions, so I don’t see any conflict of interest, kaya lang ang perception nila nagko-construction kami kasi we build homes. But we build homes, we don’t build roads. We only build roads in our community,” she added.
The senator assured that there would be no conflict of interest with the son’s appointment, noting that her family had been in politics since 1992.
She said her son could also seek an opinion from the Department of Justice (DOJ) if he feels that there is indeed a conflict of interest.
The senator then cited the case of her husband, former Sen. Manny Villar, who was accused of conflict of interest when he allegedly inserted an additional P200 million in the DPWH budget for the C-5 extension which would pass through some of his real estate properties, thereby increasing the value of his real estate business.
She said her husband also sought the opinion of the DOJ before selling their property to the government.
“May DOJ opinion ’yun e kaya lang siyempre pulitika ’yun, hindi naman nila sinasabi what’s the real score ’di ba? It’s an issue na paulit-ulit pero actually Senator Villar has a DOJ opinion. Tinanong niya and DOJ if he’s allowed to sell his property for a road project, sabi hindi ka pwedeng tumanggi kasi gusto ng gobyerno ’yan so he did it,” said the senator.
“Hanggang ngayon, hindi pa kami binabayaran. Puwede pa naming bawiin yung property naming ’pag gusto namin pero ayaw na namin ng gulo. Actually puwede niyang isara ’yung kalye kasi hindi siya binayaran,” he said.
Senator Villar said the zonal value of the property that they sold to the government was P90 million although its market value at that time was P160 million.