Blue Ribbon flood control probe suspended until senators sign partial report: Lacson

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will suspend subsequent hearings into the flood control anomalies pending senators’ approval of its partial report, panel chair Ping Lacson announced Wednesday.

To date, the committee still lacks five panel member signatures for the report to advance to the plenary for further debate. 

The partial report recommends that several members of Congress, including incumbent and former senators, be subjected to further investigation for their supposed link to the kickback scheme in flood control projects. Only Lacson, Senators Risa Hontiveros, Kiko Pangilinan, and Bam Aquino have signed the report so far. 

“I do not expect any member of the minority to sign. They can offer all kinds of reasons all they want, wise or otherwise, not to fulfill their duties as members. It’s on them, not on the chairman," he stressed

"That said, I am suspending all hearings until I have reported out to the sponsor in plenary the partial committee report at the very least," the chair added.

Lacson argued that proceeding with the investigation without reaching a logical conclusion in the form of a committee report that senators can debate, amend, and adopt on the Senate floor would be pointless and contrary to the rules of the Senate 

Based on the leaked draft report, the BRC initially recommended that minority Senators Chiz Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada, and Joel Villanueva, among others, be charged for plunder, malversation, and direct bribery over allegations that they received kickbacks from flood control projects.

The report was later revised, although Lacson denied that the amendments were related to the brewing coup then in the Senate. The shakeup plot was reportedly pushed by the minority bloc to halt approval of the document in question, but the effort was unsuccessful. 

Despite the supposed disapproval, Lacson argued that minority lawmakers, who are members of the BRC, are “duty-bound” to sign the report under the rules. 

Senator Imee Marcos explicitly said that she would not sign the partial report until the committee launches a "full investigation."

In January, Marcos and Senator Rodante Marcoleta—former BRC chair—said they found the probe led by Lacson lacking in depth and that the committee consumed its time unfairly grilling the so-called small fish rather than summoning the real culprits behind the supposed corruption scheme. 

Earlier, Marcoleta said he expected Lacson to put former undersecretaries Adrian Bersamin and Trygve Olaivar—who both attended a previous hearing—under intense scrutiny for their purported involvement in the kickback and delivery scheme.

Lacson, however, argued that, as members of the committee, Marcoleta and other minority lawmakers could have interrogated them but never did.

The BRC was supposed to hold a hearing last Tuesday, but deferred it pending the submission of former Ilocos Sur governor Chavit Singson's supplemental affidavit. 

Singson was only given until 7 April to submit the draft to the panel, but allegedly failed to do so, despite being informed twice of the scheduled hearing.

Recall that the panel granted Singson’s request to testify in the flood control investigation after insisting on submitting relevant documents. He had brazenly accused some top government officials of involvement in the corruption scheme in the flood control projects and tagged President Marcos Jr. as the “mastermind.”

The ex-governor, who backed Marcos' presidential bid in the 2022 elections, had also accused the administration of steering the “biggest” and “well-orchestrated” corruption as seen in the botched flood control projects.