March 6th, 2010 by Malayang Halalan
Not even Sen. Manuel Villar’s speech at the Senate claiming innocence with regard to the C-5 road extension controversy could avert the drop of 6 percentage points in his ratings in the latest Pulse Asia survey.
The results of the February 2010 Pre-election Survey for National Elective Positions conducted on Feb. 21-25 showed that support for Villar, the standard-bearer of the Nacionalista Party, had declined by 6 percentage points (or from 35 percent to 29 percent), and that his closest rival, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III of the Liberal Party, would have won the presidency if the elections were held last month.
February 3rd, 2010 by Malayang Halalan
Walang makapagsasabi na hindi ako sumagot sa mga paratang sa Senado. Nandito kayong lahat noong ako ay nagsalita dito. Nagsalita na din akong mahigit daang-daang interview na ibingay ko sa media. Nandito po ang ating mga kasamahan sa media. Sa radio, print and television. Nagsalita na ako sa daang-daang mga forums ipinapaliwanag itong C-5 issue. Linagay ko ito sa website. We printed tens of thousands of pamphlets explaining the C-5 controversy. Nag-advertise kami sa aking hangarin na maipaliwanag sa tao ito diretso. Dinala ko ang mga journalists dito sa C-5, sa dalawang kalye doon. Wala akong nilihim tungkol sa aking partisipasyon sa marangal na proyektong ito.
January 27th, 2010 by Malayang Halalan
Juan Ponce Enrile talks about Senator Manny Villar’s alleged bribery try to drop the C-5 ethics complaint:
He asked for a lunch with me, and I cancelled the lunch. And without an announcement, he came to the office and I talked to him. And he was pleading with me to help him, but I told him, “Manny,” I said, I am the chairman of the committee, I cannot take sides. I’ll have to preside over the hearing of your case, and I would suggest that you assign some of your lawyers to participate so that they can object to the presentation of evidence, if there are any objectionable evidence presented against you. And at the same time, you assemble your own evidence and present it to us in the committee so that we can take into account your evidence, when we prepare the report. Well, somehow I noticed that there was an effort to really convince me to go soft on him.
January 26th, 2010 by Malayang Halalan
Manny Villar: “I have always faced the music. But I did not dance to their music and never will. I addressed the Filipino people directly about the C-5 issue. I am available to media to answer questions. My opponents want to make me a whipping boy to boost their political plans. Why should I give them the satisfaction?”
