Here’s a snippet from today’s column by Amando Doronilla in the Daily Inquirer, writing about Manny Villar:

His defiance gives a preview of an attitude that Villar is above censure and accountability for his actions connected to his companies’ activities to push the C-5 project.

The project is covered by appropriations in which he intervened during its budgetary hearings as member of Congress.

There’s no way that he will step down or suspend his campaign for the presidency while a boycott of his allies is preventing the Senate from voting to censure him.

He remains untouchable in this regard. In stonewalling on the committee report, Villar is a law unto himself and above the rules of the Senate on disciplinary action for breach of the rules.

There are no party sanctions to bar him from election activity until he is cleared by the Senate, simply because he is president of the Nacionalista Party.

If Manny "Wysiwyg" Villar believes he is above the law in his current position, how do you think he’ll treat the presidency if he’s elected?

He presents himself as the underdog by claiming he’s not a haciendero or he doesn’t have famous parents and that he was born poor. He claims, "what you see is what you get." Yet, this is not entirely true. What we don’t see is a sinister personality who used his position to benefit from a road construction and uses lapdogs, the media and reasons and excuses to evade sanction.

Don’t believe in his sleek ads. All they show is a person who’s spending obscene amounts of money, desperate to become President of the Philippines.

We wonder why. To alleviate our country from poverty? If you believe in that, you probably also believe the moon is made of cheese.