ABS-CBN News Online Beta

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Tuesday he was able to foil an unfolding crime by discovering what he said was the anomalous insertion of a P200-million fund for a supposed road project involving Senate President Manuel Villar.

 

"Senator Enrile identified him (Villar), and because I said the double insertion was anomalous, yes, Senator Villar is involved in the anomaly," Lacson told ABS-CBN's morning show, "Umagang Kay Ganda."

 

Lacson, however, said he will stop saying the fund's insertion is anomalous if Villar himself would explain the double insertion to the public.

 

"Unless he explains thoroughly how he inserted the fund and why there was an insertion," he said, adding that the Senate's minority is not publicizing the issue due to politics and that they only want the double insertion explained to the public.

 

The senator admitted that everybody, including himself, should be blamed for the insertion. However, he said the greater responsibility in the double insertion falls on Villar and the House speaker up to President Arroyo, who approved the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2008.

 

Lacson revealed more doubtful insertions in the 2008 GAA during his privilege speech on Monday.

 

“Mr. President, if you are telling us to bring it on, just like a confident poker player with winning cards would say, and now I say to you, ‘All in',” Lacson said.

 

First, Lacson pointed out a P200 million budget allocation for the C-5 road extension project in Parañaque and then pointed out another P200 million budget allocation for the Carlos P. Garcia avenue, which, he said, are one and the same project.

 

“Carlos P. Garcia Ave. and C-5 Road are one and the same, and so is everything else...You need not be an expert on the national budget to find malice in this situation - only a keen eye and a strong motivation to pull this country out of the deep pits of corruption. This is the truth,” Lacson said.

 

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, finance committee chairman, had confirmed it was Villar who inserted the second P200 million allocation in the 2008 GAA, but said it was actually an "additional funding" for the project and not a separate allocation.

 

Other irregularities

 

Lacson went on to point out more irregularities in the 2008 GAA.

 

He also questioned the budget appropriation for another road project, the rehabilitation of the Aguinaldo Bridge in Cavite. Lacson said records show that the bridge had double funding totaling P100 million.

 

Lacson also cited several other insertions made by the Senate in the 2008 GAA:

 

• Kibawe-Kadingilan-Kalinangan Road (P5 million) and Don Carlos-Kadingilan Road (P25 million), both in Bukidnon;

• Construction of access road, West Lateral Dike connecting to Hacienda Dolores to Porac Interchange of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway in Pampanga (P100 million);

• For the completion of the Cagayan de Oro International Trade and Convention Multipurpose Center, (P100 million);

• Tagaytay-Silang Road, Balalang-Matanda section in Cavite (P13 million);

• Construction of Molino Boulevard, in Cavite, including right of way (P37 million);

• The Aguinaldo Bridge project;

• P200 million for Maharlika Road, which, Lacson said, "God knows which part."

 

Lacson said included in these Senate insertions were these lump sum appropriations:

 

• "Repair and rehabilitation, including improvement of safety standards of various roads along public schools" (P100 million);

• "Flood control and drainage systems" (P500 million);

• "Construction, repair and rehabilitation of government facilities, including educational facilities" (P760 million);

• "Rehabilitation, reconstruction of damaged paved national roads generated from payment management system, highway development and management nationwide" (P50 million);

• "Road upgrading, gravel to concrete, based on gravel road, strategies traffic benchmark for upgrading to paved road standard, nationwide" (P50 million).

 

Aside from these lump sum appropriations, Lacson pointed out an additional P1.76 billion under "various infrastructure projects."