The preliminary inquiry on the ethics complaint filed by Senator Jamby Madrigal resumed today but Senator Alan Peter Cayetano and Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. tried to prevent the resumption of the preliminary inquiry by questioning the “revised” rules of the Ethics Committee, headed by Sen. Panfilo Lacson.
Senator Cayetano claimed he and the other members of the minority were not present when Lacson’s ethics committee declared the complaint sufficient in form and in substance. He said should be reviewed citing the prior dismissal of accusations that Villar inserted two similar road projects into the national budget, which is the same basis of the ethics complaint.
Figures: Madrigal’s counsel Atty. Ernesto Francisco told senators during the hearing that the original road, which is 6.3 kilometers long, costs P2.678 billion in total. The realigned 9.7 km road, excluding the portion from Sucat road to Coastal road, has an estimated cost of P6.9 billion. The difference of 3.4 km road for realignment ballooned to an estimated cost of 6.9 billion.
I watched the live interview of ANC with Senator Peter Cayetano showing a google map printout of the controversial road and Senator Madrigal was interviewed next. Senator Jamby Madrigal accused Senator Cayetano of tampering Google map. I was intrigued, of course because both printout they’ve presented, the C5 extension line were different from one another. I’m familiar with the place, the entry of C5 extension is between SM Sucat and SM Annex and will end in Quirino Avenue, part of Las Piñas. Senator Villar is used to be Las Piñas Mayor before he became a senator, his wife Cynthia Villar is the Las Piñas Representative now.
See the screenshot of google map of the controversial C5 Extension road below. Marked as A is C5 Ext. You can compare it in the future ethics probe if they happen to present the image again.
If its true that El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde was the biggest beneficiary of the said project aside from the 16 properties owned by Villar family, the Senate should invite him over to next hearing.
Related posts:
