The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will defer its investigation into the multibillion-peso flood control scandal to the Office of the Ombudsman, Sen. Erwin Tulfo said.

Tulfo made the announcement during an ambush interview with reporters after he, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, and Senate Secretary General Renato Bantug met with Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla at the latter's office on 7 August.

The senator said the decision to defer any Blue Ribbon inquiry was intended to avoid prejudicing the Ombudsman's ongoing investigation, which is based on the findings of the Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI).

"Initially, we discussed with the Ombudsman that they would be handling everything that has to do with flood control because of the numerous cases they have ongoing… what he was saying was, 'We'll handle it, maybe you can start looking for other cases that are brought to the Senate,'" Tulfo said.

Given the development, Tulfo said he would brief members of the committee on the matters discussed during the meeting, including the planned turnover of documents related to the flood control investigation.

He added that some documents had already been turned over to the Ombudsman, including records from Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson concerning alleged anomalies in infrastructure projects in Taguig.

Blue Ribbon's role is legislation

Despite deferring the flood control investigation, Tulfo said the Blue Ribbon Committee could focus on other alleged corruption cases, emphasizing that its primary mandate is to recommend legislation that would prevent similar issues from recurring.

"The problem is Blue Ribbon is for legislation. We're not there to investigate or prosecute; it's just fact-finding for legislation. It has resulted in multiple bills being filed at the Senate because of the Blue Ribbon hearings into flood control," he said.

"That was the purpose of the Blue Ribbon. To see deficiencies in law, to prevent it from repeating. Now, with flood control, we are happy that this was floated because otherwise it would not be talked about, particularly as high officials were involved."

With the committee preparing to hold its first official hearing during the Second Regular Session of the 20th Congress, Tulfo said lawmakers would instead investigate another government agency that provides a service affecting "almost everybody."

"We talked with the Ombudsman about numerous things that we may investigate in the next few weeks, but we'll just be gathering evidence. We're coordinating with them. There is an agency that we will investigate," he said.