Gordon says Villar tried to buy him out of Presidential Race
In an interview, the presidential aspirant Sen. Richard “Dick” Gordon told the press that his fellow senator and presidential aspirant tried to buy him out of the presidential race. Gordon said to ANC’s Top Story that Manny Villar sent an emissary to bribe him by offering a Cabinet position and reimbursement of his campaign expenses in exchange for backing out of the presidential race.
Sen. Gordon said that the offer was made during the last week of January where the issue of the Senate Committee of the Whole’s report recommending the censure of Villar for unethical conduct in connection with the C-5 road project is on its height.
According to Gordon, the main objective of the Villar camp is to convince him to side Villar so that they would be able to oust Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile as Senate president and stop the Senate plenary deliberations on the ethics case.
Gordon said the emissary was a “former Cabinet official of yesteryears,” and a “businessman, not a political operator.” He said the emissary was “just trying to be a friend to his friend” and was just “delivering a message” for Villar.
“Quite frankly, I was [also] put off by it,” Gordon said.
Asked why he only disclosed the bribe try during the presidential campaign, Gordon said he really had no intention of revealing it since he had promised that he would not tell.
However, Gordon said it “just came off the cuff” during the radio interview Tuesday morning since he is fed up with Villar camp’s propensity to use his money to get what he wants, including the presidency.
“I’m telling my friend, you can’t buy everything,” he said. “You can buy some of the people some of the time, but you can’t buy all the people all of the time.”
On the other hand, former President and now presidential aspirant Erap Estrada revealed last Tuesday that he too has received offers to withdraw from the presidential race in exchange for a large amount of cash from a rival candidate.
Estrada refused to name the candidate making the alleged bribe offer. “I can’t [say]. That’s deniable. But probably, it’s someone who has lots of money,” he said.
Obviously, Villar denied the allegations of Sen. Gordon. In a statement Villar said “Wala po akong ginagawang ganyan, wala po akong ino-offer na maski ako kahit kanino at mag-iingat po kayo. Meron pong mga tao na nanloloko at baka po kayo mabiktima.”
Villar said he has become the focus of the attacks since it only means that he is already leading the race.
“Dapat sasabihin na para malaman naman na wala talaga akong inuutusan na ganyan. At unang-una, wala naman na akong ganyang pera na. Ang aking natitirang budget ay para lamang sa aking kampanya at tamang-tama lamang ito,” Villar said.
