MANILA - A former executive in one of Sen. Manuel Villar’s real estate companies admitted that he proposed the insertion of P400 million – not P200 million – in the 2008 national budget to fund the  controversial C-5 road extension project.

Anastacio Adriano, the former senior vice-president and chief operating officer of Adelfa Properties Inc. (API), said that he requested for the inclusion of P400 million in the 2008 General Appropriations Act (GAA) for the construction of the Las Piñas-Parañaque link road.

Adriano, who gave this testimony during the Tuesday hearing on the ethics complaint against Villar, corroborates that of Senate budget office chief Yolanda Doblon.

Doblon earlier told the ethics committee last September 3 (Thursday) that it was Adriano who told her to insert funding for the project. She said Villar was present during that exchange. (See: Villar man in C-5 budget probe faces arrest)

Double funding

The amount proposed by Adriano was eventually reduced from P400 million to P200 million.

However, this was still on top of a separate provision amounting to P200 million for the same leg of the C-5 road extension project in the 2008 budget, albeit under the name “Pres. Garcia Avenue Ext.”

Pres. Garcia Avenue Extension happens to be another name for the C-5 road.

In 2008, Sen. Panfilo Lacson called the public’s attention to the double-funding, accusing Villar of conflict of interest for funding a project that will benefit his company, Adelfa Properties.

At that time, under threat of a coup following Lacson’s expose over this issue, Villar opted to resign as Senate president.

Adriano said that he requested the amendment in November 2007 because the C-5 realignment is a priority project of Villar, and as such will benefit “6 million constituents” who face traffic on a daily basis.   

“We recommended an additional budget considering that the project was under-funded,” he said, adding that the original cost for the road extension is P4.2 billion.    

He added that he also “enumerated” to Senate budget officer Yolanda Doblon the addition of P100 million for the upgrading of national roads.

Not a Senate employee

Adriano recalled that Villar’s chief of staff, Caroline Cadelina, was also present during his meeting with Doblon.

“Sen. Villar joined the conversation at one time,” Adriano told the Senate committee of the whole.

Adriano also confirmed, however, that he “never” served as an employee of the Senate. When Sen. Rodolfo Biazon questioned his authority to push for the insertion, Adriano said that he has “advised” Villar on various projects.

Adriano said that he retired as API CEO in July 2008 and now serves as Villar’s political officer and consultant. He also used to be a member of the board of directors of Villar’s two other real estate companies, Golden Haven Memorial Park and Brittany Corp..

He insisted though that there was no double insertion as the Senate “mixed up” the C-5 realignment project with the Manila-Cavite-Toll Expressway Project (MCTEP).

Atty. Ernesto Francisco, counsel of Sen. Jamby Madrigal, earlier told abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak that the C-5 road extension project originated from MCTEP, which intended to connect South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to Coastal road. (Read: Villar ethics case to end up with Ombudsman)   

Senate renamed original C5 provision

Last year, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak independently reviewed versions of the proposed 2008 budget and noted confusing entries referring to the same leg of the C-5 project. (See: Budget insertions lack transparency)

The original funding for the project, amounting to P200 million, first appeared under a lump sum provision of P5.113 billion in the public works budget for “Roads to decongest traffic.” This provision was already part of the President's budget request for that year (See: Details of Selected Programs / Projects)

This amount, which was listed as item I.a.1.a.1.g. in House Bill 2454 (the General Appropriations Bill), was initially labeled, "Construction of C5 road Ext. from SLEX to Sucat Road including ROW."

But for some reason, this particular item was somehow renamed in the final budget law as “construction of Pres. Garcia Avenue Ext. from SLEX to Sucat Road including ROW.” (See: final GAA version of the 2008 DPWH budget)

It was the Senate that introduced this amendment.

The Senate also introduced an entirely new provision in the 2008 budget of the DPWH (under Locally Funded Projects) labeled as “Urgent Infrastructure Including Local Projects.” The GAA allocates a total of P4.126 billion for 10 items under this list. 

It was under this provision that the second P200 million for the "construction of C5 road Ext. from SLEX to Sucat Road including ROW" was inserted, apparently with instructions from Villar’s man, Adriano.

Abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak asked Doblon to clarify who had the original budget for "C5" renamed to "Pres. Garcia Ext", but she refused to make any statements outside of the Senate proceedings.– with a report by Gemma Bagayaua Mendoza, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak