from The Daily Tribune
http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/20100122hed1.html
Both presidential contenders have refused to answer the allegations of conflict of interest and overpricing of their properties in rights of way payments.
Villar stands accused of having committed an “unethical conduct as a senator of the Republic and has, by committing such violations, damaged the integrity of the Senate as an institution.”
The Senate committee of the whole (ScoW) resolution, signed by 12 senators which now enables the resolution to be deliberatedon and voted upon in plenary, also said that in the interest of fairness, public accountability and furtherance of the principle that public office is a public trust, the committee also recommended that the Senate “demand the return and restitution by Villar to the public coffers such amount of money or pecuniary advantage he has or his companies have illegally gained or obtained as a result of unlawful acts and improper and unethical conduct.”
The quoted figure was P6.22 billion as the amount to be returned by Villar and his companies.Villar has refused to answer these charges and instead holds interviews with media to claim that the report is politically motivated. He also has his supporters answer the charges against him, using the same line, that te charges are politically motivated.
Aquino is also being dogged by charges of the Aquino-Cojuangco family of having profited from an overpriced Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTX), an overpriced payment for the right of way in Hacienda Luisita by government, along with having a private road leading to the Hacienda paid for by the government.
Aquino has ignored these accusations, claiming that this is mere black propaganda, despite the fact that the congressional hearings showed evidence -- testimonial and documentary -- that the raw land in Luisita which would fetch about P6 per square meter, was sold for over P100 per square meter. This occurred while the Aquinos were allied with President Arroyo and when Aquino was a congressman representing Tarlac. The hacienda also did not give ther farmers-stockholders their due share.
Aquino also has the same habit as Villar in having others defend him against the charges and also calls them “black propganda.”
In an interview at a morning show yesterday, Estrada pointed out that if the two senators who are running for the presidency in 2010, claim that they are clean from the accusations being hurled at them, then they should not be afraid to face the music.
Estrada recalled that when he was accused of plunder, he bravely faced the accusations since he knows that they were false.
He said both Villar and Aquino should do the same if, what they say is true that the accusations is nothing but political mud-slinging against their respective candidacies.
“When the impeachment started, I faced the music. I did not stop the House of Representatives from elevating this to the Senate. I did not bribe the congressmen, even when I knew the impeachment complaint was being railroaded (by then Speaker Villar and the then political opposition, all allies of then Vice President Arroyo).
“I faced the charges head on, but they brought this to the streets. What should be done by the two (presidential bets) is to face the accusations. Show the Filipino people if you are guilty as charged or innocent of the charges.
“Let them face the charges. They are eyeing the presidency -- the highest position in the land. They should face these frontally, as I did,” Estrada said.
Estrada, asked to react on the decision of the Commission on Elections to also allow Arroyo to run, said the ball is now with the residents of the second district of Pampanga if they want to have her as their Representative in Congress.
He also scored former President Fidel Ramos, who had earlier warned him not to celebrate prematurely, as he would still face legal obstacles.
“Up to the issue of my celebrating the victory of the people in the Comelec decision, (Ramos) even meddles in this? What is important is that we won the first round,” Estrada said.
Estrada was earlier given the full green light by the Comelec to run as the commission junked three petitions seeking his disqualification.
He admitted that the decision of the poll body would be a big boost to his cadidacy as it would stop all the black propaganda such as his quitting the race and and endorsing one of the leaders in the surveys.
“All of these questions and black propaganda about me pulling out or supporting another or being paid not to run will disappear because I will definitely run,” Estrada said.
A senior member of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) hailed Thursday the decision of the poll body placing the fate of the former president in the hands of the people.
Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani said the poll body’s ruling allowing Estrada to run again for president is a good decision since it is really the people who should decide on his destiny.
“It is right for the Comelec to let him (Estrada) run and have the people decide if they want Estrada to return to Malacañang, because it really is the sovereign Filipino people who will decide whom they want as their president,” Bacani said.
In a 26 page ruling, the Second Division of the COmelec dismissed the three disqualification cases filed against Estrada due to utter lack of merit.
The spokesman of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), Estrada’s political party, also yesterday called on Villar to face his peers in the upper chamber and address the issues hounding him instead of accusing his colleagues of partisan politicking.
Lawyer Ralph Calinisan said Villar’s “squid tactics” were plainly obvious during the latter’s interview earlier today over DZMM’s Dos por Dos radio program where he said the PMP and the Liberal party were plainly engaged in politicking. Villar’s statement was in apparent reference to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s decision to sign the Senate report censuring Villar at the conclusion of its investigation over the C-5 double insertion issue.
“The Filipino people deserve an answer,” Calinisan said. “Senator Villar is gravely mistaken in his accusations, and he should instead face the issues squarely instead of finding fault with others where there is none.”
Calinisan pointed out that Enrile and Senator Estrada were performing their duties as lawmakers faithfully, “and they would have been remiss in their duties if they were morally convinced that they should sign the Senate report, and didn’t.”
Meanwhile, a Villar ally and supporter hit out at Noynoy Aquino as he stressed that the Aquino-Cojuangco family should refund the government for the construction of the Hacienda interchange.
Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin ‘Boying’ Remulla said Noynoy’s familyshould refund the government for the purchase of the overpriced right of way area for the SCTEx road interchange, insisting that it is the landowner that has to donate the property to the government at no cost.
He was also quoted as saying that the SCTEX road controversy is “bigger” than the C-5 road extension project controversy implicating Villar and his properties. With Jason Faustino and Marie A. Surbano
Former President Joseph Estrada weighed in on the dual controversies hounding both Liberal Party (LP) presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino and Nacionalista Party (NP) standard bearer Sen. Manuel Villar, advising both bets to face the charges frontally and answer the respective charges leveled against them.
Both presidential contenders have refused to answer the allegations of conflict of interest and overpricing of their properties in rights of way payments.
Villar stands accused of having committed an “unethical conduct as a senator of the Republic and has, by committing such violations, damaged the integrity of the Senate as an institution.”
The Senate committee of the whole (ScoW) resolution, signed by 12 senators which now enables the resolution to be deliberatedon and voted upon in plenary, also said that in the interest of fairness, public accountability and furtherance of the principle that public office is a public trust, the committee also recommended that the Senate “demand the return and restitution by Villar to the public coffers such amount of money or pecuniary advantage he has or his companies have illegally gained or obtained as a result of unlawful acts and improper and unethical conduct.”
The quoted figure was P6.22 billion as the amount to be returned by Villar and his companies.Villar has refused to answer these charges and instead holds interviews with media to claim that the report is politically motivated. He also has his supporters answer the charges against him, using the same line, that te charges are politically motivated.
Aquino is also being dogged by charges of the Aquino-Cojuangco family of having profited from an overpriced Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTX), an overpriced payment for the right of way in Hacienda Luisita by government, along with having a private road leading to the Hacienda paid for by the government.
Aquino has ignored these accusations, claiming that this is mere black propaganda, despite the fact that the congressional hearings showed evidence -- testimonial and documentary -- that the raw land in Luisita which would fetch about P6 per square meter, was sold for over P100 per square meter. This occurred while the Aquinos were allied with President Arroyo and when Aquino was a congressman representing Tarlac. The hacienda also did not give ther farmers-stockholders their due share.
Aquino also has the same habit as Villar in having others defend him against the charges and also calls them “black propganda.”
In an interview at a morning show yesterday, Estrada pointed out that if the two senators who are running for the presidency in 2010, claim that they are clean from the accusations being hurled at them, then they should not be afraid to face the music.
Estrada recalled that when he was accused of plunder, he bravely faced the accusations since he knows that they were false.
He said both Villar and Aquino should do the same if, what they say is true that the accusations is nothing but political mud-slinging against their respective candidacies.
“When the impeachment started, I faced the music. I did not stop the House of Representatives from elevating this to the Senate. I did not bribe the congressmen, even when I knew the impeachment complaint was being railroaded (by then Speaker Villar and the then political opposition, all allies of then Vice President Arroyo).
“I faced the charges head on, but they brought this to the streets. What should be done by the two (presidential bets) is to face the accusations. Show the Filipino people if you are guilty as charged or innocent of the charges.
“Let them face the charges. They are eyeing the presidency -- the highest position in the land. They should face these frontally, as I did,” Estrada said.
Estrada, asked to react on the decision of the Commission on Elections to also allow Arroyo to run, said the ball is now with the residents of the second district of Pampanga if they want to have her as their Representative in Congress.
He also scored former President Fidel Ramos, who had earlier warned him not to celebrate prematurely, as he would still face legal obstacles.
“Up to the issue of my celebrating the victory of the people in the Comelec decision, (Ramos) even meddles in this? What is important is that we won the first round,” Estrada said.
Estrada was earlier given the full green light by the Comelec to run as the commission junked three petitions seeking his disqualification.
He admitted that the decision of the poll body would be a big boost to his cadidacy as it would stop all the black propaganda such as his quitting the race and and endorsing one of the leaders in the surveys.
“All of these questions and black propaganda about me pulling out or supporting another or being paid not to run will disappear because I will definitely run,” Estrada said.
A senior member of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) hailed Thursday the decision of the poll body placing the fate of the former president in the hands of the people.
Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani said the poll body’s ruling allowing Estrada to run again for president is a good decision since it is really the people who should decide on his destiny.
“It is right for the Comelec to let him (Estrada) run and have the people decide if they want Estrada to return to Malacañang, because it really is the sovereign Filipino people who will decide whom they want as their president,” Bacani said.
In a 26 page ruling, the Second Division of the COmelec dismissed the three disqualification cases filed against Estrada due to utter lack of merit.
The spokesman of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), Estrada’s political party, also yesterday called on Villar to face his peers in the upper chamber and address the issues hounding him instead of accusing his colleagues of partisan politicking.
Lawyer Ralph Calinisan said Villar’s “squid tactics” were plainly obvious during the latter’s interview earlier today over DZMM’s Dos por Dos radio program where he said the PMP and the Liberal party were plainly engaged in politicking. Villar’s statement was in apparent reference to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s decision to sign the Senate report censuring Villar at the conclusion of its investigation over the C-5 double insertion issue.
“The Filipino people deserve an answer,” Calinisan said. “Senator Villar is gravely mistaken in his accusations, and he should instead face the issues squarely instead of finding fault with others where there is none.”
Calinisan pointed out that Enrile and Senator Estrada were performing their duties as lawmakers faithfully, “and they would have been remiss in their duties if they were morally convinced that they should sign the Senate report, and didn’t.”
Meanwhile, a Villar ally and supporter hit out at Noynoy Aquino as he stressed that the Aquino-Cojuangco family should refund the government for the construction of the Hacienda interchange.
Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin ‘Boying’ Remulla said Noynoy’s familyshould refund the government for the purchase of the overpriced right of way area for the SCTEx road interchange, insisting that it is the landowner that has to donate the property to the government at no cost.
He was also quoted as saying that the SCTEX road controversy is “bigger” than the C-5 road extension project controversy implicating Villar and his properties. With Jason Faustino and Marie A. Surbano
No comments:
Post a Comment