The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will not omit the names of sitting senators and other lawmakers implicated in allegedly anomalous flood control projects in its draft partial report, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ping Lacson said.
In an interview with Bilyonaryo News Channel, Lacson said the draft report that recommends plunder and other possible criminal charges against Senators Francis Escudero, Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada as well as resigned Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co was based on evidence that emerged during the hearings into the alleged multibillion-peso flood control scam.
“There’s no doubt (the names will not be omitted) even if you are a former senator, an incumbent senator, as long as your name was mentioned,” said Lacson, who heads the committee.
“if I omit their names, I might as well omit other names that were also mentioned during the hearings. And I will not do that,” he added.
A copy of the draft partial report earlier leaked to the media also recommended criminal charges against former Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. and former Caloocan City Rep. Mitch Cajayon-Uy, among others.
“As I said, our report was based on facts, based on evidence, and we should be led by or we should follow the evidence,” Lacson added.
The committee chairman earlier confirmed the draft partial report has already been signed by six senators, namely Juan Miguel Zubiri, JV Ejercito, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Bam Aquino, and Kiko Pangilinan.
However, Zubiri, Ejercito, and Gatchalian later pulled out their signatures as they needed more time to thoroughly study the committee report.
Lacson said the committee has already conducted preliminary discussions on the draft report and made revisions based on members’ inputs, without altering its substance.
“Nothing substantial or substantive was edited from the draft committee report,” Lacson said.
The changes, he noted, were confined to refining the language of the document.
“I’m ready again to present it to them, maybe on Monday,” Lacson said.
