Cynthia Villar: Arrest of 3 senators pulling down Senate

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Cynthina Villar on Thursday said that the involvement of Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. in the pork barrel fund scam is dragging the whole Senate down.

“Although we were sad, we don’t like this to happen. Remember, kapag sira ang institution, sira na kaming lahat. This has an effect on us,” Villar said during the weekly forum at the Senate.

The senator was relating the situation of the three senators to the latest survey result released by the Social Weather Stations.

The SWS results showed that the net satisfaction score of the Senate decreased from a "good" +33 in December 2013 to a "moderate" +26 in March 2014.

“Whether we did good or bad, kasama kaming bumabagsak kasama nila. It’s the institution. We have been in Congress and Senate long,” noted Villar, wife of former Senate President Manny Villar who was also speaker of the House of Representatives in 1998.

Meanwhile, Villar lamented the fate of her Senate colleagues.

“It’s sad also because after all they are colleagues. You are just 24, kayo lang ang magkakasama doon, nakukulong pa ang iba. But we cannot do anything because it’s the law, we have to implement the law,” she said at the weekly forum.

Meanwhile, the lady senator said that the administration of President Benigno Aquino III may have used the wrong slogan during the 2010 presidential election.

“President Aquino ran on corruption, ‘pag walang corrupt, walang mahirap.’ I think he will rise or fall on that. That is his promise,” Villar said.

She said that so far, the administration seems to be delivering on its promise to put a dent on corruption in government.

“So when people ask me why many personalities are being jailed, I told them, because the president ran on the platform of anti-corruption. He cannot be otherwise… That will be his legacy,” the senator said.

She added: "The problem is, what if it’s not continued by the next administration, then that is the end of the legacy. Unlike if the legacy has been economic, even if everything goes haywire, you have established the economic trend that remains even if there will be other presidents."