ASEANEWS HEADLINE-COURTS & CRIME | MANILA: Blue Ribbon to reexamine Marcos’ role in flood mess
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr../ PCO
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Blue Ribbon committee is set to reexamine today President Marcos’ possible liability in the flood control corruption mess, as the panel prepares to introduce significant amendments to its draft committee report to secure the necessary signatures for plenary deliberation.
In an interview yesterday with radio dzBB, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson disclosed that the majority bloc will meet today to discuss, among other things, how to deal with the President’s potential involvement.
While Lacson initially stated that the investigation has so far yielded no direct evidence linking Marcos to bribery or negligence – noting that the President merely approves the General Appropriations Act (GAA) prepared by Congress – he emphasized that the inquiry is still a “work in progress.”
Marcos’ alleged ties to the flood control scam were among the grounds for impeachment in the case filed against him by private lawyer Andre de Jesus.
It cited Marcos’ supposed benefit from kickbacks linked to insertions and ghost flood control projects.
The House committee on justice, however, junked this alongside another impeachment complaint against Marcos, declaring both insufficient in substance after separate votes by the panel.
“We cannot see (any link to Marcos) because the President approves the GAA when it reaches him. He is not the one that prepares the GAB (General Appropriations Bill). I don’t know, maybe it’s better left to the appreciation of the House committee on justice because they already dismissed the case. Personally, I am unaware of the contents of the impeachment (case) that they dismissed,” Lacson said.
Meanwhile, the Blue Ribbon chair also confirmed that the draft report, which recommended plunder and malversation charges against Senators Joel Villanueva, Jinggoy Estrada and Francis Escudero will likely be amended to address concerns from other senators.
However, he clarified that the recommendation to charge Villanueva and Estrada would remain, citing the advanced stage of the cases against them.
Lacson pointed out that the Department of Justice has already submitted Villanueva’s case for resolution, while the National Bureau of Investigation has filed complaints against Estrada based on evidence corroborated by the Blue Ribbon hearings.
“If we modify that and no longer recommend the filing of appropriate charges… it would be too awkward because the investigation is already underway,” Lacson explained.
“Practical reality, they are already undergoing preliminary investigation, why would we not recommend?” he added.
Sen. Erwin Tulfo earlier bared that at least 11 senators want to introduce amendments to the “leaked unofficial” version of the report, which recommends charges and further investigation for several incumbent and former lawmakers and government officials.
Missing names
Lacson distinguished the cases of Villanueva and Estrada from those of other implicated lawmakers like Escudero, Sen. Mark Villar and former senators Grace Poe and Nancy Binay.
For Villar, Poe and Binay, Lacson said the evidence remains hearsay, primarily based on the testimony of former Department of Public Works and Highways undersecretary Roberto Bernardo without corroborating documents.
In contrast, Lacson noted that the kickback amounts allegedly delivered to Villanueva and Estrada matched the specific percentages of project costs listed in the GAA, as detailed by Bernardo’s ledger.
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“If you compute them, the numbers match exactly,” Lacson said.
With clamor rising on the non-recommendation of charges against former speaker Martin Romualdez, Lacson clarified that he falls under a secondary category of “further investigation.”
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While testimonies implicated both Escudero and Romualdez, Lacson explained the difference in evidence quality as Bernardo testified that Escudero “acknowledged” having received the kickback delivery but Romualdez’s primary accuser former Marine Orly Guteza has gone missing, though other witnesses like the Discaya couple have also implicated him.
Lacson admitted that the committee report is still in jeopardy if it fails to gather 11 signatures, including at least one from the minority bloc.
He floated the possibility of conducting one or two more hearings to finalize the report and incorporate the proposed amendments.
“It is not a matter of being confident or not. It needs 11 signatures. If we cannot gather 11 signatures, then so be it. There will be no committee report,” Lacson said.
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