Liberal Party standard bearer Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III Wednesday challenged both Sen. Richard Gordon and Sen. Manuel Villar to undergo lie detector test to determine who is telling the truth.

Aquino's statement came after Gordon disclosed last Tuesday that, through an emissary sent “about three days before the Senate ended its session” on Feb. 3, Villar offered him a Cabinet post and reimbursement of his campaign expenses in exchange for joining a plot to unseat Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and pulling out of the presidential race.

Gordon is the presidential candidate of the Bagumbayan Party while Villar is the standard bearer of the Nacionalsta Party.

“I will eagerly await the results should they decide to undergo a lie detector test,” Aquino said.

Meanwhile, Aquino's running mate Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II said he sees a modus operandi in the alleged offer made to Gordon to back out from his presidential bid and instead support Villar.

“I can see a pattern of a modus operandi wherein some candidates are employing different tactics in their campaign,” Roxas said.

Former President Joseph Estrada also earlier claimed he received offers from a contender to back out of the presidential race in exchange for the withdrawal of his bid. Unlike Gordon, Estrada declined to name who the candidate was.

Estrada said an emissary had gone to his house in San Juan City on at least three occasions since about nine months ago. He said each visit came with the offer for him not to run anymore.

This was the first time a senator other than Enrile had tagged Villar as the one behind the ouster plot.