Blue Ribbon freezes Floodgate probe

It appears that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee is shelving its investigation into the multibillion-peso flood control scandal, consistent with the sentiment that the issue is being downplayed amid the prominence given to the impeachment trial.

Blue Ribbon chairperson Erwin Tulfo said the deferment of its investigation was in deference to the probe the Office of the Ombudsman is conducting.

Tulfo talked to reporters after he, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, and Senate Secretary General Renato Bantug met with Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla.

The senator explained that the decision to put off the Blue Ribbon probe was to prevent the Ombudsman’s ongoing investigation, which is based on the findings of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), from being prejudiced.

“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.

Tulfo said he would be discussing with the other committee members the topics that were discussed with Remulla as well as the turnover of their documents related to flood control.

He said some paperwork was already handed over to the Ombudsman, including the documents that Senator Panfilo Lacson had concerning anomalies in infrastructure projects in Taguig City.

With the flood control probe out of their hands for now, Tulfo said the Blue Ribbon committee could focus on other corruption scandals, stressing that its goal is to develop legislation that would prevent such issues from recurring.

“The problem is that the Blue Ribbon is for legislation. We’re not here 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.

With the committee poised to conduct its first official hearing under the second regular session of the 20th Congress, Tulfo said they would be investigating a particular government agency that was concerned with a service that “affected 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.