Ping peddles flood report to peers

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will suspend hearings into the flood control anomalies pending senators’ approval of its partial report, panel chairperson Panfilo 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 subject to further investigation for their alleged links 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, wise or otherwise, for not fulfilling their duties as members. It’s on them, not on the chairman," he stressed

Pointless undertaking

"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 with plunder, malversation, and direct bribery over allegations that they received kickbacks from flood-control projects.