LWUA chief Villa won’t give in to resignation calls

CEBU, Philippines - “I will not resign.”

This was the statement released by Rene Villa, chief of the Local Water Utilities Authority, following the call for his resignation.

“Ang dapat mag-resign ‘yung mga congressmen,” said Villa in an interview when he visited the office of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District yesterday.

The call to resign came after it was known that he was then one of the lawyers of Janet Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the P10-billion pork barrel scandal.

Villa clarified that all he got from Napoles was his lawyer’s fee.

“Of course, binabayaran niya ako for my services. Hindi naman libre yung serbisyo ko. Napoles is just one of my clients and I am just one of her lawyers,” Villa said.

Villa was Napoles’ lawyer from 2006 until September this year, prior to his appointment as LWUA chief in the same month.

“This is purely a PR job trying to link President Aquino to Napoles. Kaso wala silang makitang link, kaya yung mga tao ng presidente ang ni-link nila. Ako na naman ngayon ang tinitira nila,” Villa added.

Villa said that when he was one of Napoles’ lawyers he was in charge of the planned businesses of a hospital ship and coal projects, but these did not materialize.

Villa was then one of the cabinet members of former presidents Joseph Estrada and Gloria Arroyo but opted to resign when the jueteng scandal and Hello Garcia scandal broke out, respectively.  (FREEMAN)