Las Piñas lawmaker says Villar properties benefited from flood control project

Some properties owned by the Villars reportedly benefited from a few government infrastructure projects in Las Piñas including the Zapote River Drive Project, which is supposed to address flooding, a lawmaker from the city said.

According to Sandra Aguinaldo’s report in “24 Oras” on Wednesday, Las Piñas Congressman Mark Anthony Santos has long raised the issue of the Zapote River Drive Project allegedly benefiting the properties of the Villars. 

“Yung mga creeks namin dito nilagyan din ng kalsada papunta rin doon sa mga establishments at subdivisions nila,” said Santos. 

(Roads were also put up in our creeks going to their establishments and subdivisions.) 

“Ang lupa na nagkakahalaga ng P2,000 to P3,000 per square meter, kapag nilagyan mo ng kalsada ‘yan, nilagyan mo ng isang connecting bridge papunta sa isang malaking lungsod, definitely tataas ang presyo ng mga lupa mo,” he added. 

(Land that costs P2,000 to P3,000 per square meter, if you put a road there, if you put a connecting bridge going to a big city, the price of your land will definitely increase.) 

In the report, the congressman showed a section of the river drive where a residential village owned by the Villars is also located. 

“Itong tinatayuan natin ay ilog,” Santos said.

(This place where we are standing is a river.) 

Santos also said that the river became narrow due to the road built alongside it, which is why it allegedly has not helped solve the flooding woes in the area. For instance, the area was flooded last July due to the southwest monsoon. 

“Puwede mo lang gamitin sa mga main rivers, dito sa urban areas, para linisin lang ang river ay three meters lang. At lumalabas dito yung sukat ng easement sa river drive ay umabot ng 8 to 10 meters,” said Santos. 

(You can only use [an easement] of three meters for the purpose of cleaning the river in the main rivers here in urban areas. And here, the size of the easement for the river drive reached 8 to 10 meters.) 

The congressman added that he will cooperate with the Office of the Ombudsman and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure in the investigation of the said project, which he believes is only one of the many government projects that possibly benefited the Villar-owned properties. 

GMA Integrated News already reached out to the Villars, including Senators Mark and Camille Villar. 

But their mother, former senator Cynthia Villar, already defended that the Zapote River Drive Project as a flood control and traffic decongestion project to rehabilitate the Las Piñas River and provide a long-term solution against floods in the area as well as in nearby cities like Parañaque, Muntinlupa, and Cavite.

Also among the objectives of the project was to provide an alternative road to alleviate the traffic along Alabang-Zapote Road, she added. 

“We showed through this project na kapakanan ng nakararami ang nauuna at hindi para sa interes ng iilan,” said Cynthia. 

(We showed through this project that the welfare of the many comes first, and not the interest of the few.) 

“Ang paratang na ginawa ito para palabasing pabor lamang sa ilang pribadong ari-arian ay isang pampulitikang paninira na walang basehan.”

(The accusation that this was done to appear favorable only to a few private properties is baseless political defamation.) — Vince Angelo Ferreras/BM, GMA Integrated News