MANILA – Members of the House of Representative committee hearing the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) controversy against Senator and 2010 presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III said they will personally visit the road project before proceeding with their investigation.

In a hearing on Wednesday, members of the Oversight Committee said they will conduct an ocular inspection of the billions-worth highway and interchange that Sen. Aquino’s critics alleged to have benefited the Tarlac-based Aquino family.

The road project’s northern terminus is at the Central Techno Park, which is part of the Hacienda Luisita complex owned by the Aquino family in Tarlac City.

Cavite Congressman Crispin “Boying” Remulla has previously raised the SCTex overpricing issue.

Rep. Remulla alleged that the Aquino family used their political connections to have the SCTEX Tarlac exit built inside Hacienda Luisita in 2004.

He noted that the SCTEX has 12 exit points. “Eleven of the 12 interchange are connected to public roads. Only one exit leads to a private property. That is in Hacienda Luisita,” Remulla said.

Farmers or politics?

Remulla also noted that the hacienda’s farmers, who own about 34% of Hacienda Luisita Inc., got only P800,000 in total dividends. The amount is less than 1% of the P83 million paid to the Aquino family-controlled Hacienda Luisita for right-of-way compensation.

At the time, Aquino was House deputy speaker for Luzon, and his mother, the late President Aquino, was still an ally of President Arroyo.

Sen. Aquino’s allies, however, alleged that the controversy is politically motivated.

Rep. Remulla is with the Nacionalista Party, which is fielding Sen. Manuel Villar as its presidential candidate for 2010.

Sen. Villar trails Sen. Aquino in the 2010 election-related surveys.

Rep. Remulla said the issue is a “question of leadership,” referring to Sen. Aquino.

“It's a question of leadership. If he cannot control his family, how can he lead the country? He cannot lead his family to the proper path,” the congressman said at the hearing.

Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III countered that Sen. Aquino’s opponents are just looking for issues to pin down the Liberal Party candidate.

“They’re (critics) trying to figure out if the family, or for that matter, Noynoy, exerted influence his power in convincing BCDA to submit a proposal to HLI (Hacienda Luisita). I think Sen. Aquino already said they can’t prove anything,” Tañada said.

Over-pricing?

On the pricing issue, Rep. Tañada said that “All questions should be asked to the BCDA. Any question asked to Hacienda is already maybe an after-the-fact question because the price quoted by BCDA is for BCDA to explain, not for the Cojuangco family.”

The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway was a flagship project of President Gloria Arroyo, together with the Cojuangco-Aquino family, owners of Hacienda Luisita, and the Lopez family through First Philippine Infrastructure Inc..

The Japan Bank and International Corp. funded the project through a special yen loan amounting to P21.393 billion. The state-owned Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) provided P4 billion as counterpart.

Remulla said the issue affects taxpayers because of the loan component. “It's a heavy burden for taxpayers.”