"Even if he does manage to surmount this controversy and win the presidency in May, the findings of the Senate committee of the whole will continue to haunt him. His possible election victory could turn out to be a Pyrrhic one. He might not last as long as he may want to in Malacañang."

I don’t know how the Senate report on the C-5 fiasco would affect the survey standings of Sen. Manuel Villar. Frankly, I don’t care.

Even if he does manage to surmount this controversy and win the presidency in May, the findings of the Senate committee of the whole will continue to haunt him.

His possible election victory could turn out to be a Pyrrhic one. He might not last as long as he may want to in Malacañang.

Villar is trying to find cover in his current status as a presidential bet. He insists that his rivals fabricated the C-5 controversy to cut him down in the opinion polls.

But if the Senate findings of irregularities in the C-5 project were merely woven out of the proverbial whole cloth by his political foes, why doesn’t he face them like a man and shred their charges to bits?

Why has Villar opted instead to merely issue cavalier denials—and not confront his accusers at the proper forum, the Senate floor, which he has yet to do as of this writing? (photo from utakpugita)

P6.2-B reimbursement
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has listed down several reasons why Villar should reimburse the government P6.2 billion, the amount that Villar’s real estate companies “illegally gained or obtained.”

According to Enrile, Villar’s companies directly benefited when the Department of Public Works and Highways realigned—upon Villar’s insistence—the C-5 road extension so that it would traverse his landholdings.

This explains why the road was made to follow a curved route, rather than a straight one.

The realignment to accommodate Villar’s landholdings caused the road to be lengthened by 6 kilometers. As a result, the project cost ballooned to almost P7 billion—up by about P4.3 billion from the original estimate of P2.678 billion.

“Along the route of the Las Piñas-Parañaque Link Road, [Villar] and his companies own several parcels of land there,” Enrile said. “With the construction of new roads, the value of these properties soared.”

According to the Senate president, that allowed Villar’s real estate group to raise P26 billion from investors through an initial public offering.

In addition, the government also paid right-of-way compensation for the landholdings that were expropriated for the road project.

The Senate committee also found that the government had already paid out P1.8 billion in right-of-way compensation—an expense that was “wasted” because of the project’s realignment.

As if that were not enough, the committee report noted that the landholdings of Villar and his corporations had been overpriced by P141 million in road right-of-way claims.

Reacting to the Senate findings, the Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (Pakisama) said the P6.2 billion could have been better spent elsewhere—including projects to uplift the destitute peasantry.

Pakisama said P6.2 billion could buy 248,000 landless farmers a farm lot each measuring 5,000 square meters, “enough for them eat more regularly,” the peasant confederation said in a statement. BY DAN MARIANO