Senate hearing on Senator Manny Villar's alleged double funding scam continues

If you want to listen in to the Philippine Senate's hearing on the C-5 double funding scam allegedly perpetrated by Senator Manny Villar, DZMM has live audio streaming.

Villar's camp had hoped that the hearings would stop after they filed a motion with the Supreme Court to stop the proceedings at the Senate.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said on Sunday that the Supreme Court did not issue a

temporary restraining order last Friday when it asked the Senate to answer the petition of the minority senators, Villar's allies, to stop the

proceedings for allegedly being organized to convict Villar.

In today's hearing, Senator Jamby Madrigal is expected to present evidence showing that Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. pocketed over P400 million in profits from payment of road right-of-way and overpriced properties as a result of the C-5 road extension project.

Madrigal is expected to show tha

t Villar caused the double funding of the P200-million C-5 road extension in the 2008 national budget and that he had caused the diversion of the road to benefit his real estate interests.

Between the yet to be proven allegations against Villar and the hearing on Hayden Kho's sex tapes, I think the former is of graver consequence to the Philippines.

We are not talking about just any senator or just any kind of corruption.

If surveys on Presidential candidate popularity ratings are to be believed at all, Villar is a leading Presidential contender. He is also seen as a political juggernaut as he has ties with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as well as President Joseph Estrada. His political war chest, which some say ranges between P 5 Billion and P 10 Billion, exceeds the estimated P 2 Billion to P 3 Billion needed to fund a Presidential campaign.

Just considering how much he has already spent in radio and TV advertisements for the past year, you can probably already gauge that he not only has huge financial resources but also the willingness to use it. He has radio commercials airing almost every thirty minutes on prime time hours in the morning, afternoon and early evening every day. On DZMM alone, which has a very huge audience, that could amount to spending between P 5 to P 10 Million a day.

Recently, he started coming out with a radio ad in the form of a scripted interview with Boy Abunda. The ad is about a minute long and in it, he is interviewed by Boy Abunda on the C-5 double funding controversy. He dismisses the allegations against him as being manufactured to end his campaign for the Philippine Presidency and refuted the allegations.

Apart from the money he is spending right now for PR crisis management, he is also giving money to ethically challenged members of the Philippine press to soften the impact of the Senate's investigation into the C-5 double insertion scam. I've already seen a few who have begun taking cudgels for Villar.

One thing I expect to happen today also is for the Hayden Kho sex scandal stories to heat up with the discovery of Kho's drug suppliers.

As I've pointed out in previous posts, the Hayden Kho sex video scandals had been foisted on the public the very day that Senators voted to continue with the trial of the C-5 double insertion case lodged against Villar.

I have no proof that Senator Bong Revilla timed his privilege speech on the Hayden Kho sex tapes to distract people and soften the impact of the 12 senators voting to have Villar virtually impeached in an ethics hearing.

I also have no proof that Bong didn't stage the Jun Ducat hostage taking in Manila in 2007 for the benefit of Chavit Singson, who was running for Senator at that time.

But, if you will notice, the Hayden Kho stories have consistently been edging out the stories on Senate's C-5 hearings both in newspapers as well as broadcast news.

I was joking about it a few days ago by posting an old youtube video of a drugged out tricycle thief. But now, I think that it's time to get more serious about it.

Apparently, there are really 3 names being talked about in the blogosphere and two of which appeared in Brian Gorrel's blog. Another blog, New Philippine Revolution, didn't come out with the names but gave a pretty detailed description of the personalities involved.

I have already been warned about the deadly reputations of the people involved and just as Hayden is afraid of these people, I think I ought to take the same tact.

Although, I do hope that the Senate does investigate or better yet, the NBI verifies if there is any truth to the rumors making its rounds in blogs.

Anyway, other stories may also edge out stories on the investigation into Villar's alleged C-5 double funding scam.

One may the No-El or No Election theories that have gained currency again. Or the merger of the parties Lakas CMD and Kampi. Or the 16th case of the A(H1N1) virus in the Philippines.

And since we're all agog about showbiz, it may just be about the goings on in Dodie Puno's yacht and his rumored tryst with Gretchen Barreto.

Hmmmm!