SP Gatchalian disappointed over bare office left by Estrada
EMPTY office Senate President Win Gatchalian inspects the office vacated by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada on Tuesday. Estrada’s camp said the office was turned over bare to Senate President Pro Tempore Vicente Sotto III as part of standard practice.
Photograph courtesy of office of senate president
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian on Saturday expressed disappointment over the bare condition of the Senate office vacated by Senator Jinggoy Estrada, saying better coordination could have prevented delays in the transfer of Senate President Pro Tempore Vicente Sotto III and additional government expenses.
He said the turnover could have been handled through better communication among the senators’ offices to ensure Sotto could move into his assigned office without delay or unnecessary costs to the government.
“Disappointed talaga dahil nakita niyo naman ang picture, bare na bare,” Gatchalian said in a radio interview.
“The bottom line here is, sana nagkaroon ng magandang pag-uusap at sana nagkaroon ng magandang coordination para hindi ma-delay yung paglipat ni Senator Sotto at hindi na gagastos yung gobyerno,” he added.
Gatchalian confirmed that representatives of the Office of the Ombudsman visited the Senate on Thursday, 8 October, to inspect the room previously occupied by Estrada. He said Senate officials cooperated with the representatives and provided truthful information and documents.
Estrada’s office has defended the removal, saying it was standard practice to take out fixtures, furnishings and materials, most of which it said had been acquired using personal funds.
“It must also be emphasized that similar instances of dismantling fixtures and materials from a vacated senator’s office have occurred in the recent past,” Estrada’s office said in a statement.
“This is neither new nor unusual — it is an established and accepted practice within the institution, and singling out this particular transition for scrutiny is both unfair and misleading,” it added.