No ‘overall brains’ in flood scam–Lacson
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday said there is no single “overall mastermind” in the flood control scam as evidence gathered by the blue ribbon committee which investigated the controversy pointed to irregularities operated by several personalities from specific areas and agencies.
“I don’t think there’s an overall mastermind because it’s driven by greed, like I said it’s parasitic. Each region or district appears to have its own … There is an organized group within a specific agency, within a certain district engineering office like the one in Bulacan. That is a syndicate,” Lacson said during the Kapihan sa Senado forum on Wednesday.
The chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee was referring to the Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) whose officials were implicated in billions of pesos worth of suspected anomalous flood control projects, which Lacson described as the largest corruption scandal in the country’s history.
“Based on evidence, no one person can give command to all regional directors, not even the DPWH secretary. There is a mastermind in Bulacan, there is a mastermind in Mindoro,” the senator said. “You cannot pinpoint a single mastermind in the whole situation … What we tackled were microcosms—representative samples of the extent of corruption in flood control projects.”
No Mafia-like setup
“When you say mastermind, it implies a fully organized setup, like a mafia where everyone follows you. I don’t think so … There may be a particular congressman—not necessarily Zaldy Co—who manipulates within his sphere or area of influence,” he added.
Asked if Co, the former Ako Bicol party list representative, can be considered a mastermind, Lacson said it would depend on the evidence to be presented.
“If it comes to that, and he’s identified to be the overall manipulator, so be it. But you cannot [point to] him yet as the mastermind. But he may be facing a series or number of counts of cases where he is involved,” he added.
As chair of the powerful House appropriations committee in the 19th Congress, Co allegedly orchestrated the questionable insertions of billions of pesos in the national budget for infrastructure projects.
Turnover of evidence
Lacson, meanwhile, said the blue ribbon committee will transmit to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Ombudsman the evidence it has so far gathered in its investigation into the flood control mess.
According to him, the pieces of evidence, including documents, testimonies and transcripts, which the DOJ and Ombudsman may use for their case-building efforts, are now a matter of public record after he cited them in his privilege speech on Tuesday.
Lacson said the evidence includes a handwritten note by the late DPWH Undersecretary Ma. Catalina Cabral showing that Sen. Rodante Marcoleta requested P500 million in “allocables” for infrastructure projects.
“Based on requests for allocables, the late Usec Cabral allocated P500 million in projects to Senator Marcoleta. The document is not among those in the possession of the Ombudsman so we will furnish a copy to them,” he said in an interview with radio dzBB.
Asked if Marcoleta would be recommended for investigation, Lacson replied: “Not at this time. [Only] if there are ghost projects attributed to him.”
Replying to Lacson’s statements, Marcoleta asked in a privilege speech: “If endorsing DPWH projects is Senator Lacson’s basis for having me investigated, shouldn’t all senators be investigated as well?”
“Of the many names that have surfaced in this controversy, some seem to be carefully avoided by our chairman and not even mentioned directly even though they have been repeatedly linked by the witnesses … he is really trying to include me in his narrative. It is too obvious,” he said.
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