Ping finds another double insertion

BY DENNIS GADIL

SEN. Panfilo Lacson yesterday said he has discovered another "multi-million" double entry in the 2008 national budget, which was again smuggled into the budget as a congressional insertion.

He said the double entry item is another infrastructure project, the details of which he said he would divulge in Monday’s session.

Lacson was about to deliver a privilege speech on his new discovery but it was scuttled after the Senate leadership cancelled the session due to incessant rains spawned by typhoon "Marce."

He, however, hinted that the new double entry is not a road project like the C-5 road, which amounted to P200 million.

The road project seeks to connect South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to Sucat Road, which was inserted into the budget twice under different names and found in different pages.

"The other one has the same characteristics, iniba din ang pangalan. Hindi ko sinabi na kalye," he said.

He said the new double entry is lower than the P200 million redundant expenditure in the road project.

Lacson said members of the House of Representatives could be implicated.

Lacson also cleared Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate finance chief, from any responsibility in the double entry issue. "Napalusutan siya. Lahat kami napalusutan," Lacson said.

He said the insertions occurred at the bicameral conference committee level where congressmen and senators can seek insertions.

A Senate budget source, however, insisted that no congressional insertion could get in the budget without the chairmen of the House and the Senate budget committees knowing about it.

The Department of Public Works and Highways said the alleged "road to nowhere" is actually C-5 which is its big project.

"It’s okay if they want to conduct a probe but this is not a road to nowhere. It is the C-5," DPWH senior undersecretary Manuel Bonoan said.

Edilberto Tayao, DPWH-National Capital Region assistant regional director for construction operations, said Lacson could have been confused by similar project titles and identical budgets.

The C-5 Road is also known as Carlos P. Garcia Avenue Extension. This road project will connect the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) to the SLEX and to the Coastal Road in Las Pinas.

Bonoan said they are ready to clear the issue of "double appropriation."

There are two appropriations for the project under similar entries, according to Bonoan, as both were allotted P200 million in the General Appropriations Acts of 2008 and 2009 under urgent infrastructure including local projects.

This he said is actually one road project but with separate components.

"This is a big project and a big budget is required — around P1 billion," he said.

He explained that the two items were components of one big project, whose budget is applied in portions, called the alignment of the C-5 road under the Arroyo administration.

The DPWH has prepared the status report on the project to outline its progress, which also serves as its response to the legislators’ call for an investigation.

Based on the initial information, the DPWH started the construction of the PCGAE (President Carlos Garcia Avenue Extension) flyover during the first quarter targeting that it would be completed by 2009 with the roadway component to follow shortly after.

The PCGAE is a 300-meter stretch four-lane flyover to be constructed in front of the SM mall along Sucat. The C-5 Road Extension on the other hand, is an 800-meter, six-lane roadway in Las Piñas City.

Lawyer Ernesto Francisco said Senate President Manny Villar should state whether the sale of land of his company Brittany to the Toll Regulatory Board in 2000 pushed through.

"Without meaning any malice towards Senator Villar, I feel duty-bound to inform the public that sometime in 2000, a Deed of Absolute Sale was signed by Brittany Corporation ("Brittany"), through its president, Jerry M. Navarette, and the Republic of the Philippines, through the Toll Regulatory Board represented by its then executive director, Mariano E. Benedicto II, for the sale of a parcel of land registered in the name of Brittany, with an area of 6,155 sq. meters for P92,325,000 at P15,000 per square meter.

Based of the sale document, he said, the land, which is a portion of a bigger parcel of land with an area of 22,543 sq. meters registered under Transfer Certificate of Title No. 18701 issued by the Register of Deeds of Parañaque City, "is affected by the construction of the C-5 Link, a segment of the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway Project."

At the time of the signing of the sale, Villar was the House Speaker.

Francisco said Villar should also disclose whether or not he or any one of his relatives or any of his companies has properties affected by the C-5 Link road project or are situated in the area where the C-5 Link Project passes, since public funds are being used for right-of-way acquisitions and project construction. – With Genivi Factao