Senate suspends blue ribbon probe on flood management anomalies

Because of unavailability of needed paperwork and conflicts with different hearings, Senate blue ribbon committee chair Panfilo Lacson says the probe is cancelled ’till additional discover’

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate has suspended its blue ribbon committee hearings on the anomalies surrounding the Division of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) flood management tasks, committee chairperson Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson instructed Rappler on Saturday, October 4.

In a message, Lacson stated he had initially scheduled a listening to on October 8, upon Senator JV Ejercito’s request to summon former DPWH Mimaropa regional director Gerald Pacanan. The stated DPWH official was given a show-cause order on account of substandard tasks.

Nevertheless, on account of unavailability of needed paperwork and conflicts with different hearings, Lacson stated they cancelled the probe till additional discover.

“To maximise the discussions, I checked with the DOJ (Division of Justice) if the supposed ‘tell-all’ affidavit/s of the Discayas have been already out there. Corollary to that, I additionally checked with the Workplace of the Government Decide of Manila RTC (Regional Trial Court docket) if they’ve concluded the investigation on the potential violations of the notarized doc involving TSgt (Orly) Guteza and Atty. (Petchie) Espera,” Lacson stated.

“Having been knowledgeable that each wouldn’t be prepared inside one week, to not point out that the BRC (blue ribbon committee) listening to can be in battle with the finances and CA (committee on appointments) hearings, I knowledgeable [Senate President Tito Sotto] of the cancellation till additional discover,” he added.

The Senate blue ribbon committee suspended its hearings shortly after the cancellation of a separate probe led by the Home of Representatives.

Home infra committee co-chairperson Terry Ridon defined on September 24 that their hearings’ suspension is supposed to “give option to the complete and neutral proceedings of the Impartial Fee for Infrastructure (ICI).” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration created the ICI in September to function a fact-finding fee to research flood management tasks and different infrastructure tasks.

The Senate blue ribbon committee’s hearings have yielded bombshell testimonies up to now. It’s the place former DPWH Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara admitted to allegedly delivering kickbacks to embattled former Ako-Bicol consultant Zaldy Co.

Alcantara additionally stated that authorities kickbacks allegedly benefited former senator Bong Revilla, incumbent senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada, and former Caloocan 2nd District consultant Mary Mitzi “Mitch” Lim Cajayon-Uy, amongst others.

In one other listening to, former DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo named Senator Chiz Escudero and former senators Revilla and Nancy Binay as recipients of alleged kickbacks from authorities flood management tasks. – Rappler.com