Villar hits LP anew
Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. remained on the offensive yesterday as he recalled how the Liberal Party (LP) left Genuine Opposition (GO) candidates in the dark during the canvassing of votes in the last May 14 polls.
Villar said that the Liberal Party misled him and GO candidates to believe they would share election returns after the LP was designated as the dominant minority by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“Now that the elections are over and we all have won, they want to make it appear that everything is okay?” Villar told a select group of print reporters as he explained the semantics at the Senate.
He also said he cannot please all his 22 colleagues in the distribution of committee chairmanships.
“One has to understand the personal relationships, political alliances and past relationships (of every senator),” Villar said.
He acknowledged that the animosity between him, Manuel Roxas II, Jamby Madrigal and Panfilo Lacson could not be addressed even if they got what they wanted in the distribution of committees.
Three months after the elections, Villar accused the LP led by its president and former senator Franklin Drilon of not being a team player when they did not give party accreditation certificates to GO candidates in the congressional and local races.
“They joined the GO coalition but they did not sign the MOA for cooperation,” said Villar.
The LP nominated Rep. Benigno Simeon Aquino III to be part of the opposition coalition. Another LP stalwart, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, was initially drafted but instead opted to run as an independent.
Villar, of the Nacionalista Party, also ran as independent but was adopted by the GO. He recalled that at the height of the canvassing in Cavite, ex-representative Gilbert Remulla, an NP stalwart, did not get election returns because the LP accreditation was given to another candidate of the LP then allied with the faction of ex-Manila mayor Lito Atienza.
GO campaign manager and former senator Serge Osmeña intimated to reporters covering the opposition candidates that the LP was not cooperative with the coalition as they opted to go on their own, leaving local candidates in a quandary over election results. Nonetheless, a majority of the GO candidates won.
In reaction to Madrigal’s name-calling, Villar said the lady senator does not know where she was coming from since she already got three committee chairmanships as she is within the majority.
Villar said he does not want to waste precious time in answering all the accusations thrown his way, saying he has better things to do.
Madrigal accused Villar of being a traitor to his colleagues in the majority after the Senate president decided to announce the appointments for committee chairmanships which “were actually also their preferences.”
“Majority of the senators both from the minority and majority groups, around 80 percent of them, were designated chairpersons of the committees they preferred,” Villar added.
Meanwhile, in a separate interview at the Kapihan sa Senado, LP executive vice president and Senator Roxas contradicted the statement of Speaker Jose de Venecia, a Lakas stalwart, over the upcoming boost to the LP which members have vowed to strengthen through its people first policy.
“Well, with due respect to Manong Joe, palagay ko
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