By Efren L. Danao

My last column, “Case vs. Villar a goner,” was proved correct by the filing of a resolution by 12 senators seeking to clear Villar of any wrongdoing in the C-5 road extension project. With only 23 incumbent senators, including Sen. Antonio Trillanes who could not vote on the floor, there is no way that the Senate Committee of the Whole could get any majority decision against Villar.
This is not to say that the still-to-be-written committee report is certain to find Villar guilty of alleged acts of disorderly behavior. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has been even-handed in handling the inquiry as chairman of the Senate Committee of the Whole. He sought documents and testimonies that could validate or repudiate the assertions of Sen. Jamby Madrigal, the complainant in the ethics case.

Madrigal charged that Villar, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and later, as Senate President, used his position of power and authority “to influence public officials in relocating the C-5 road extension project to deliberately pass thru his properties and to negotiate the purchase of road rights of way thru several properties also owned by his corporations redounding in huge benefits for him to the detriment of the Filipino people, thereby resulting in a blatant conflict of interest.”

Clear Villar!

The 12 senators said that Madrigal’s very own witnesses all testified to the regularity of the C-5 road extension project and asked that the Senate clear Villar of the charges against him. The resolution was signed by Senators Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano, Lito Lapid, Gringo Honasan, Joker Arroyo, Miriam Defensor Santiago, Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada, Loren Legarda, Kiko Pangilinan and Villar himself.

So far, the main controversy generated by the resolution was not its recommendation to clear Villar but the timing of its filing. I agree with Senate Majority Leader Migz Zubiri that the proponents of the measure should have waited until the Senate Committee of the Whole had come out with its findings. JPE said the committee was still evaluating the evidence so it could not conclude yet whether to clear or to sanction Villar. He gave assurances that the report would come out before Congress goes on Christmas break.

Now, if it would take the committee an eternity to come out with the report, then and only then should the proponents move ahead.

Senator Jinggoy has already denounced the filing of the resolution ahead of the committee report. He was supposed to manifest on the floor last Wednesday his withdrawal from the resolution. However, the Senate adjourned immediately for lack of quorum, preventing him from formally withdrawing his signature from the measure. I note that Senator Jinggoy said he remains convinced of the innocence of Villar. So did Gringo although, like Jinggoy, he denounced the immediate filing of the resolution. Gringo said he considered the filing of the case “political” and he does not favor indicting Villar for this.

Balimbing season

Incidentally, Villar’s NP is one of the main beneficiaries of the “balimbing season” where many leaders of the administration party, Lakas-Kampi, have jumped ship. However, the Liberal Party lead by Sen. Noynoy Aquino got the bigger number of political renegades. I am impressed by the names of politicians who have abandoned Lakas in favor of the LP. I am not surprised, what with Noynoy enjoying a big lead over Villar in surveys. I also expect most of the big media outfits to give bigger play to Noynoy’s candidacy, which could enable him to keep his lead. This said, I continue to admire politicians like Migz Zubiri, Edgardo Angara, Butch Abad, Mike Romero, Tong Payumo, Neric Acosta, Rafael Nantes, Manuel Mamba, and Raul Daza who stood by their respective parties even if they are in the minority.

Among the possible senatorial candidates of the administration, I most impressed with Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd. His father was also a Health secretary who made a stab at the Senate but failed. I hope that Duque will succeed where his father failed.

Oh yes, aside from his high-profile work against the flu virus, Duque has also been making waves as chairman of the National Nutrition Council and the Accelerated Hunger-Mitigation Program (AHMP). Recently, Duque received a report from the Philippine Coconut Authority that 87,948 farmers will benefit from the intercropping of coconut with other crops being promoted by the Coconut Farm Development Program (CFDP).

The CFDP, launched in 2007, seeks to rehabilitate 40,000 hectares of the country’s 1.3 million hectares of coconut farmland. At present, there are 225 actual sites benefiting coconut farmer cooperatives in coordination with coconut farmer federations, local and provincial governments. This will benefit 46 cooperatives nationwide and invigorate 162,968 hectares for the 16,296,750 seednuts distributed.

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