Sotto: Lacson back as blue ribbon chair
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson is definitely coming back to retake the chairmanship of the powerful blue ribbon committee once the upper chamber opens its second regular session in November, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said on Tuesday.
“Yes,” Sotto told the Inquirer in a text message when he was asked about the matter. But when he was pressed to disclose when and how Lacson was convinced to return to head the panel, Sotto simply replied: “Long story.”
“In the course of our many conversations, it has come to his attention [that there is a] clamor [from] some of our colleagues and the public that he retake the committee,” he added.
In a letter dated Oct. 7 to Sotto, Lacson said he was resigning as Senate blue ribbon chair, noting that several of their colleagues had expressed disappointment with the “direction” being taken by the committee in its hearings on 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,” Lacson said in his resignation letter.
False accusation
“This narrative is categorically false. These misrepresentations are being floated mostly by critics opposed to our efforts to get to the bottom of the flood control anomalies,” he added.
He also stressed that his committee followed the evidence wherever it led, rather than the “noise from highly partisan political persuasions.”
Before he resigned as blue ribbon committee chair, Lacson said that almost all senators in the 19th Congress had inserted at least P100 billion worth of items in the 2025 General Appropriations Act. These, however, were eventually held “for later release.”
Sen. JV Ejercito later said that he and four other senators had seriously considered leaving the majority bloc over how the flood control hearings were being conducted.
Sotto’s post at risk?
Lacson, meanwhile, earlier told reporters that with his return as blue ribbon panel chair, he also warned Sotto about the possibility he might lose the support of the majority bloc or even the Senate presidency.
“I have actually discussed this scenario with Senate President Sotto when he broached the idea of giving back the blue ribbon chairmanship to me—that if I am elected again to head the committee, we should be ready for any and all consequences of my actions and decisions, including losing some members of the majority bloc and consequently, his Senate presidency,” he said.
But Sotto said he was ready to lose the Senate presidency if that would be the price for bringing Lacson back.
“I’m confident that the people will be supportive of any move we will take to curb corruption in government and whatever it takes. So, our posts in the Senate are subject to the support of our peers,” he said. —WITH A REPORT FROM MAILA AGER
