Press Release
January 20, 2010

ROXAS TO COLLEAGUES: SAVE SENATE INTEGRITY
SOLON INSISTS C5 REPORT SHOULD BE TACKLED IN PLENARY

Senator Mar Roxas today appealed to his colleagues in the Senate to set aside partisan politics and observe due process to allow plenary discussions on the findings and recommendations of the Senate Committee of the Whole related to the C5 road realignment controversy.

"It is proper and fair to everyone concerned that the C5 report be discussed openly and publicly by the Senate session. It is our duty as duly-elected public officials to ensure transparency in our actions," said Roxas, who is the president of the Liberal Party.

"Each of us senators vowed to protect the integrity of the institution to which we have been elected to serve. It is incumbent upon all of us to make sure that this integrity is not sullied by any wrongdoing of any of its members," he also said, adding: "This is not about drawing lines between and among senators. This is about due process and integrity. This is about the truth."

The Senate Committee of the Whole, chaired by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, has come up with an 84-page report recommending the censure of Sen. Manuel Villar for his alleged improper and unethical conduct in relation to the realignment of the C5 road extension, which supposedly benefited his real estate properties in the area. The committee likewise recommended that he return to the government the P6.22 billion his company allegedly "gained" through illegal means from the construction of the C-5 road extension.

The report has been signed by 12 senators, who includes the following: Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senators Panfilo Lacson, Jamby Madrigal, Edgardo Angara, Noynoy Aquino, Mar Roxas, Chiz Escudero, Richard Gordon, Rodolfo Biazon and Francis Pangilinan.

Sponsorship of the report scheduled on Tuesday was unnecessarily cancelled after Enrile was forced to adjourn the afternoon session due to lack of quorum. Conspicuously absent from the session were several of the senators who did not sign the committee report, including Villar himself.

"Fairness, responsible use of power, transparency, and rule of law are at the core of the principles we adhere to as a Party. These are also at the heart of the issues raised in the report of Enrile. We in the party will stand against any attempt to stonewall the discussion of the Enrile Report findings or to preemptively put a lid on the matter," Roxas stressed.

"Public office is a public trust. We have fought against the Arroyo administration's abuse of executive privilege in its attempt to impede the Senate in probing its anomalies. We will fight against any similar attempt by anybody else in power, including our colleagues in the chamber," he added.

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