Senator Erwin Tulfo confirmed Sunday that he signed the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s partial report on its flood control probe with “reservations”, citing concerns that some senators, recommended for preliminary investigation, were “singled out.”
“I think that's one of the reasons why it's challenging for Blue Ribbon to get nine signatures because of that issue,” he said partly in Filipino in a radio interview.
The document in question recommends that the Ombudsman conduct further investigation into Senators Chiz Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada, and Joel Villanueva, who have been accused of receiving millions of kickbacks from flood control projects.
Tulfo, who co-heads the powerful panel with Senator Ping Lacson as the chairman, signed the report so that it could advance to the plenary for amendments, saying he intends to modify it by including other high-profile personalities, such as members of the House of Representatives and other big-time contractors tagged in the scheme.
He argued that their non-inclusion raises concern that the report may be “selective.”
“There were a lot of names mentioned other than the three senators. Some House members were also mentioned, but why weren’t they included? It's like the three were singled out,” he stressed.
As of the weekend, the BRC still lacks three signatures from the majority to advance the partial report to plenary for deliberations.
Lacson asserted that he won’t plead out BRC members, particularly those from the minority bloc, who have contested the partial report and criticized his leadership of the high-stakes investigation.
He blamed the reluctance of other majority members to sign the report on the pressure from the minority. Nonetheless, he reminded his peers that their conclusions must be based on their duty and not on peer pressure.
The BRC, whose probe remains suspended pending the adoption of the partial report, intends to invite former lawmaker Zaldy Co to its next hearing to face off with 18 supposed former Marines and his alleged ex-aide, Orly Guteza.
Co’s allegations, although interconnected with those of the supposed Marines, singled out President Marcos Jr. and former Speaker Martin Romualdez as recipients of the alleged billions of kickbacks from “insertions” in the national budget.
The budget was allegedly allocated to infrastructure projects, including flood control.
Meanwhile, in the Marines' affidavit, they alleged that they were ordered to deliver P805 million in kickbacks, stored in suitcases, to several top government officials, including Marcos.
They also mentioned Tulfo, Senate President Tito Sotto, and Senators Escudero, Loren Legarda, and Mark Villar, as well as former senator Bong Revilla, as supposed beneficiaries of the cash deliveries.