The so-called “bagmen” of ex-lawmaker Elizaldy Co, who had identified themselves as former Marines, were no-shows at yesterday’s Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigation into the flood control corruption controversy led by new panel chairman Erwin Tulfo.
The 18, now termed as Co’s “bodyguards,” and their counsel, Atty. Levito Balingod, were invited to the inquiry for a supposed face-off with Tulfo, whom they had implicated in the kickback scheme.
The 18 received the invitation but no reason was given for their absence, according to the committee secretary.
The “bodyguards” snubbed the hearing held at the session hall on the second floor even though they were only in the office of Senator Robin Padilla on the fifth floor, Tulfo said.
Over the weekend, former Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano warned that the Tulfo-led hearing on Monday was not authorized, insisting that he still retained the chamber’s top post despite a takeover by the minority bloc last week.
As a result, Cayetano said they could not guarantee procedural safeguards and protection accorded to witnesses.
Also no-shows yesterday were former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and Representatives Zia Adiong, Jose Alvarez, Jam Baronda and Leila de Lima, who cited parliamentary courtesy between the chambers of Congress for their absence.
The House lawmakers were also implicated in the supposed flood control kickback scheme.
Co’s bodyguards alleged that they delivered money stuffed in suitcases to the residences of the lawmakers, an allegation the latter vehemently denied.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and Ilocos Rep. Sandro Marcos were also alleged to have received large kickbacks, along with other administration-allied lawmakers.
Opposition figures like former senator Antonio Trillanes IV and former representatives Arlene Brosas, France Castro and Raoul Manuel of the Makabayan bloc were also implicated by the bodyguards.
Cayetano’s new minority bloc pushed through with a hearing last week despite opposition from the Gatchalian-led majority bloc, which said the former no longer had the authority to do so following the leadership change that effectively stripped them of committee chairmanships.
Tulfo, in his opening speech yesterday, denounced last week’s probe convened by Cayetano and his allies, deriding it as “illegitimate” or “a mere press conference” conducted outside established Senate rules and institutional processes.
“Simply put, it was not a legitimate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing. It was irregular, a ‘hao shao’ (fake), a make-believe investigation masquerading as an official Senate proceeding,” he said.
Tulfo dismissed the allegation that he received cash-filled suitcases as “unfounded” and “hearsay,” aimed at discrediting his credibility to undermine the so-called “legit” flood control probe now under his watch.
“We will not allow anyone to just come to this committee and make all sorts of claims without any evidence, or witnesses who will suddenly appear and then disappear the next day,” he said.
The credibility of the “bodyguards” was put into question after the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) disowned several of them, while the majority were found to have been dishonorably discharged.
The AFP said the group was no longer in the service at the time they made the alleged deliveries, further raising suspicion that their stories were fabricated to sow discord and destabilize the administration.