Lacson readies report on flood control probe
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson on Saturday said that he is set to deliver a progress report as chairperson of the Senate blue ribbon panel on flood control investigations through a privilege speech on Monday or Tuesday next week.
This came after the partial report of the panel on flood control investigations still needs three signatures before it is submitted to the plenary. Lacson earlier suspended hearings on the controversy at least until the report reaches the plenary.
“That’s why I thought of delivering a privilege speech. I will do a chairman’s progress report. Because as a chairman, I owe it to the public, the Filipino people, to update them on what happened after seven or eight committee hearings,” Lacson said.
The Congress is set to resume its session on May 4, and Lacson said he has already scheduled his privilege speech for either Monday or Tuesday.
Lacson also noted that he would deliver a privilege speech for people to catch up on the updates on the report. He added that many findings in the report have been “overtaken” by many developments made by the Sandiganbayan, Office of the Ombudsman and Department of Justice (DOJ).
“If it is a privilege speech, I am not limited to the content of the partial committee report. I can include other documents that were not tackled in the hearings,” he said.
He also said that he would provide a copy of the chairperson’s progress report to the Ombudsman and DOJ for the report’s pieces of evidence to remain relevant despite the preliminary investigations already made by other agencies.
“We will furnish it to them, so if there is lack of evidence in the preliminary investigation they’re doing, they can use the evidence we gathered in the blue ribbon [committee],” the senator added.
But he clarified that the partial committee report would not be disregarded even if he delivers a privilege speech. Once the report reaches the required number of signatures, he would still have to report it out for deliberations in the plenary.
He also said the hearings would continue even after the delivery of the chairman’s progress report and even if the partial report committee is still not fully signed. He noted that such controversy on government infrastructure projects can’t be easily forgotten by many Filipinos.
