Manny Villar Update 4/20/2010

Villar's disqualification sought over ‘prohibited’ campaign funds

A lawyer of one of the presidential contenders in the May 10 elections on Monday formally asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to disqualify Nacionalista Party standard bearer Sen. Manuel Villar for allegedly receiving "prohibited" campaign contributions.

In a 14-page complaint, Ernesto Francisco, lawyer of independent candidate Sen. Jamby Madrigal, said that there is “probable cause" to charge Villar with an election offense for receiving "prohibited" political contributions.

Francisco was referring to his earlier petition asking the poll body to look into the source of the senator's campaign funds.

“Routine"



Villar, for his part, shrugged off the disqualification case, saying filing such cases against them has been the “routine" of some people who want to gain media mileage.

“Andami nang nag-file ng disqualification sa amin at lahat ay pawang mga part ng black propaganda. Palagay ko napakarami naman sigurong may disqualification cases ngayon at nagiging routine na yan. Iyan ay para lang mapag-usapan," he told reporters at a press conference in the NP headquarters in Mandaluyong City.

(So many disqualification cases had been filed against us and these are all part of black propaganda. I think filing such cases has become the routine of people who want media attention.)

Extravagant spending

In his complaint, Francisco asked how Villar can spend billions in his campaign despite having only P29,212,803 "cash in bank" based on his Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) in 2008.

He added that even if Villar were to liquidate all of his other declared assets, the proceeds would still be "insufficient and inadequate" to fund the said expenses.

The lawyer said Villar cannot claim that his funds came from his real estate businesses, specifically Vista Land and Lifescapes, Inc., which has Polar Property Holdings, Corp., Calveston Investments Limited, Althorp Holdings, Inc., Cameron Global Limited Golden Haven Memorial Park, Inc. and Cambridge Inc. as its shareholders.

He said that local corporations and foreign companies are all prohibited by law from giving contributions to Villar or to any other candidate in the elections.

OEC

Under Section 95 of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC), corporations "which have been granted franchises, incentives, exemptions and similar allocations or concessions by the government or any of its divisions, subdivisions or instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled corporations" are prohibited from giving financial contributions for any partisan political activity.

Violation of the OEC is an election offense, which is punishable by disenfranchisement, one to six years imprisonment, and disqualificationf from holding public office.

Villar, a self-made billionaire, ranked ninth in Forbes Magazine’s list of wealthiest Filipinos in 2009.

Meanwhile, Francisco had already earlier clarified that he was not acting on behalf of Madrigal, who has accused Villar of exerting his influence to benefit financially in the government’s C-5 road extension project.

Earlier, Liberal Party senatorial bets Nereus Acosta and Martin Bautista also filed a disqualification case against the senator for supposed vote-buying