3 senators escape charges… for now

The contentious Senate Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) report has been revised to recommend a further investigation rather than the filing of corruption charges against Senators Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada, and Joel Villanueva, pursuant to the consensus reached by the majority bloc, panel chair Panfilo Lacson said Tuesday.

The leaked draft BRC report initially recommended that Escudero, Estrada, and Villanueva face plunder, malversation of public funds, and direct bribery, among other charges, over alleged kickbacks from flood control projects.

Lacson, however, said that his colleagues in the majority “suggested [that] maybe we can soften it without sacrificing the intent — substance.”

“We just specify it, that instead of using the word to be charged, [we changed it to] to undergo preliminary investigation, to undergo a fact-finding investigation, to undergo a case build-up,” Lacson told reporters in a chance interview.

“Because we cannot recommend that charges be filed in court, only the Department of Justice and the Ombudsman are authorized to file the information for any person to be charged before the court,” he added.

Earlier, Lacson told DAILY TRIBUNE that Escudero, along with former House speaker Martin Romualdez, would not be included among the legislators recommended for charges, citing a lack of corroborating evidence to support claims that they received commissions from flood control projects.

He, however, averred that it does not necessarily imply that the former congressional leaders were off the hook, as they will be subjected to a “further probe.”

Meanwhile, Lacson confirmed that Estrada and Villanueva — both accused of receiving at least 30 percent “SOPs,” or commissions, from flood control projects in Bulacan — would still be recommended for criminal charges under the BRC report.

Why revised?

Lacson on Tuesday debunked speculations that the amendments to the BRC report were related to the alleged brewing coup in the Senate, purportedly being aggressively pushed by the minority to halt the approval of the document in question.

Escudero, Estrada and Villanueva belong to the opposition bloc in the Senate.

“We never deviated from the original intent of our committee report,” Lacson stressed. “[It has] nothing to do with the minority, we haven’t spoken with them yet.”

Last week, Senators Miguel Zubiri, JV Ejercito, Sherwin Gatchalian, and Erwin Tulfo withdrew their signatures from the partial report, citing the need for further evaluation.

As of Tuesday, Lacson said no signatures had been solicited for the BRC report because it would only be finalized and rerouted on Wednesday.

Nonetheless, he expressed confidence that it would muster the required numbers for plenary consideration.

BRC critics slammed

The BRC report has drawn mixed reactions. Some critics called the report biased for excluding certain lawmakers, including Romualdez, who was accused of involvement in the flood control scam, while others focused on those slated to face charges.

But Lacson maintained that the committee “cannot go beyond” the evidence presented in previous hearings. Rather than criticize the report, he challenged his colleagues to submit their own evidence to help the panel produce a truly evidence-based report.

“It’s easy to question why somebody is not included here, why someone is present here. Where’s the evidence? We go by the evidence, which was gathered in the previous ribbon hearings,” he said.

Senator Imee Marcos on Monday insinuated that the alleged coup was motivated by the lack of internal support, as senators themselves, who are mandated to protect the institution, were being targeted in the flood control probe led by their colleagues.