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Senate Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Saturday questioned the legality of a planned Senate subcommittee that would revive the investigation into alleged anomalies in flood control projects, saying the move was not properly authorized.
The issue arose after Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano said Senator Rodante Marcoleta would lead a subcommittee under the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to continue hearings on the alleged flood control scandal.
“Senator Marcoleta will issue the notices on Monday para ituloy na sa Thursday yung flood control scam hearings,” Cayetano said in a report by Jonathan Andal on “24 Oras Weekend.”
But Sotto argued that the move was not legal, questioning how a subcommittee could be formed without approval in plenary.
He also raised concerns over why notices for the hearings would be issued by a vice chairperson of a committee that has yet to be formally organized.
Senator Pia Cayetano currently serves as chairperson of the Blue Ribbon Committee, while Marcoleta and Senator Jinggoy Estrada are vice chairpersons.
Sotto’s remarks came as the new Senate majority seeks to revive hearings on the alleged flood control scandal.
Marcoleta, for his part, said some individuals were merely afraid of continuing the probe.
He claimed there were efforts to secure the Senate majority because of concerns over the Blue Ribbon Committee investigation.
On April 15, then-Blue Ribbon Committee chairperson Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson suspended hearings on the alleged flood control controversy.
Lacson later produced a partial committee report based on seven hearings, but it failed to secure plenary approval after only seven committee members signed it, short of the required nine.
Lacson has yet to issue a new statement on the issue.
The Senate President, meanwhile, assured the public that the revived hearings would be fair.
“We want the whole truth and not only some truth,” he said.
“Kung makikita ninyo, may conflict na kaagad. Sabi ng Ombudsman, may mastermind. Sabi ni Senator Lacson, walang mastermind. Sabi ni Senator Lacson, ito ang mga dapat hindi imbitahin. Sabi naman ni Senator Marcoleta, ito ang dapat imbitahin,” Cayetano added.
Tingog Party-list Representative Jude Acidre also questioned the timing of the move to revive the hearings, noting that it coincides with the expected start of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
“Bakit kaya pinipilit nila na gawin ito sa panahong ito? Ngayon baka ang iniisip nila, puwedeng sige, guluhin na lang natin,” Acidre said.—MCG, GMA News
