Ping digs up Joker
exposé vs Villar
Revives conflict of interest on home financing

BY JP LOPEZ

SEN. Panfilo Lacson yesterday stepped up his attacks on Senate President Manuel Villar, saying that when the latter was still a congressman, he sponsored a law that mandated the infusion of billions in government money into two housing finance institutions with which his companies did business.

Lacson said the accusations against Villar of self-dealing and conflict of interest were not even his own but originally came from then Rep. Joker Arroyo, who 10 years later defended Villar in the "double insertion" issue on the C-5 extension project.

Lacson quoted then Rep. Joker Arroyo as saying in an Aug. 17, 1998 privilege speech in which he raised a possible conflict of interest issue involving the then Speaker Villar:

"So in the case of Speaker Villar, it is simple, if he wants to go/continue in business dealings with government financial institutions, he can do so but he cannot also be a congressman. If he wants to be a congressman, then he must not be in business which deals with the government. Speaker Villar’s companies are engaged in housing. He thereby violated the Anti-Graft Law."

Lacson said he found it surprising that Arroyo, who is also now a senator, is defending Villar’s alleged P200 million double insertion for the funding of the C-5 road extension in Parañaque.

Citing 10-year-old House records, Lacson said Arroyo called on the House to constitute itself as a committee of the whole to investigate Villar, who had at that time risen to the speakership, for alleged conflict of interest.

Arroyo was among the aspirants for Speaker who lost to Villar.

Lacson said among the actions questioned by Arroyo was Villar’s sponsorship of a bill that became the Comprehensive and Integrated Shelter Finance Act of 1994.

The law provided for the increase in the capitalization of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. from P500 million to P5.5 billion and of the Home Insurance and Guarantee Corp.

Lacson almost failed to deliver the scheduled privilege speech when Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Villar’s party mate in the Nacionalista Party, asked Lacson about what he was going to say.

"I just like to find out if he is continuing his speech last Monday or he is standing up on a new matter of personal privilege and number two, is that the procedure in the Senate where a member can keep on standing up on the same subject matter without yielding to some questions first to other members?" Cayetano asked.

Lacson instead asked Cayetano to just listen to his speech.

Cayetano retorted: "I don’t think that is the procedure. If we look at the rules, when you rise on the question of personal privilege, you state the nature and the reason then the chair rules upon it because if he is going to talk on the same thing, he should admit first that he made a mistake last week and that there is no issue about the double entry before he goes on to a next one."

The exchange of words triggered an almost one-hour recess and in the end Lacson was allowed to deliver the speech, but not before Villar was seen leaving the Senate compound. Arroyo could not be reached for comment.

Arroyo had accused Lacson of "intellectual dishonesty" over the latter’s allegations in relation to the double appropriation in the 2008 national budget for the C-5 extension project.

He said it is time that Lacson be exposed as a "blabbering twister" who "made a mountain out of a molehill."

Lacson called Arroyo a "chatterbox" for defending Villar.

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said he would convene the finance committee to look into Lacson’s allegations of double funding.

The minority bloc acceded, saying that since its resolution has been referred to the finance committee, there is no need to convene the Senate as a Committee of the Whole.

Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the minority bloc held a caucus and "we decided to just insist on our resolution para maipagpatuloy yung investigation so that the double insertions (could be investigated) before this is muddled."

"Since it has been referred to the committee of Enrile, we hope that we can see the truth and put closure to it," he said.

He said there is no more need for the Committee of the Whole since this would be chaired by Villar.

"(The Committee of the Whole) might require his (Villar) inhibiting himself. So wag na. Mabuti nga ma-refer na dun sa committee on finance. He’s really more knowledgeable of what has happened," he said.

Enrile said he is likely to start meetings next week.

Lacson, in an interview, said he is willing to be questioned before the Senate ethics committee over the P200 million "road to nowhere" mess.

He said he is at the pleasure of his peers, but could not understand why he should be grilled before the committee, saying he was not the one who made a double entry in the 2008 budget.