Senators want Ping back at blue ribbon
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III appeared more confident on Sunday that he would be able to persuade Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson to resume his leadership of the chamber’s blue ribbon committee.
“Most of my colleagues in the majority want him to return,” Sotto said, adding that blue ribbon committee members have scheduled within the next few days, or until the end of October, to collectively persuade Lacson.
In an Oct. 7 resignation letter to Sotto, Lacson explained how a number of their colleagues have expressed disappointment with the “direction” of the blue ribbon committee hearings regarding the anomalous flood control projects.
“Some senators publicly and secretly pursue the narrative that I am zeroing in on several of my colleagues while purportedly protecting those members of the Lower House perceived to be the principal actors in the budget anomalies related to the substandard and ghost flood control projects,” said Lacson.
But Sen. Francis Pangilinan recalled that “no one in the majority bloc sought his replacement as blue ribbon committee chairman.”
“My sense was and is that while there were a number of our colleagues in the majority bloc who disagreed with some earlier public pronouncements made by him, the matter [was] threshed out and clarified by him in a majority caucus [on] Oct. 1,” Pangilinan said.
Reaffirmed support
“I appeal to Senator Ping to stay on as blue ribbon committee chairman and appeal as well to our colleagues in the majority bloc to reaffirm our support for him to stay on, even as we iron out our differences,” he added.
In an interview with Sotto and Lacson’s daughters, Lacson revealed that he was also irritated by an “overly vocal, boastful or aggressive” person who seemed to be keen on protecting principal suspects Pacifico “Curlee” and Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya.
“There is a saying: ‘The loudest one in the room is the weakest,’” Lacson said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “He is overly vocal, boastful, or aggressive so he can create an image of strength through noise.”
Lacson was apparently referring to Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, who also listened to bombshell revelations implicating current and former senators in the flood control anomalies.
Pangilinan said he is hoping that with the renewed support of the majority bloc, Lacson would be convinced to stay in his post.
“Now more than ever, amidst the political crisis facing the nation, our people are looking for stability and certainty in the state of our affairs and looking to the strength of our institutions to withstand the ongoing crisis and resolve it in favor of truth, transparency and public accountability,” Pangilinan said.
The committee has since been led, in an acting capacity, by Sen. Erwin Tulfo, who was the committee’s vice chair, but Tulfo is in the United States.
According to Sotto, the blue ribbon committee members will set a meeting before the end of October to discuss the supposed request of sacked Public Works and Highways officials Henry Alcantara, Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza for house arrest, but Sotto said the Senate can continue to detain them until 2028, according to a ruling of the Supreme Court.
