Sotto won’t release draft report amid calls for full disclosure
The draft committee report of the Senate blue ribbon panel on anomalous flood control projects in the country is not official and cannot be made public, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said on Thursday in reply to a petition seeking its full disclosure.
In a message to reporters, Sotto expressed confidence that the blue ribbon committee, headed by Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, would know how to handle such petitions.
In the draft that circulated on Tuesday, the blue ribbon panel recommended that the following officials, together with their respective private-sector conspirators from contracting firms who delivered the bribes, gifts, or presents, appear to be liable for direct bribery and should be investigate and charged accordingly:
- Former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co
- Former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.
- Sen. Jinggoy Estrada
- Sen. Joel Villanueva
- Sen. Chiz Escudero
- Former Rep. Mary Mitzi Cajayon-Uy
“It’s a draft and therefore not official. If the other committee members have not even read or seen it, it cannot be made public. They met [Wednesday and] agreed on how the committee report may be filed,” Sotto said.
On Feb. 4, lawyers Eldrige Marvin Aceron, Sikini Labastilla and Purificacion Bartolome-Bernabe filed a petition for full disclosure of the draft committee report on the Senate blue ribbon committee’s investigation on anomalous flood control projects.
Aceron was the same lawyer who filed an ethics complaint against Escudero in October last year over the P30 million donated by flood control project contractor Lawrence Lubiano to the lawmaker’s 2022 election campaign.
In the seven-page petition, the lawyers argued that the media had published the draft report as well as the move of Senators JV Ejercito, Juan Miguel Zubiri and Sherwin Gatchalian to withdraw their signatures on the document.
The petition for full disclosure demanded the release the unreadacted full draft report; the preservation of all versions, including the originally signed draft before the three withdrawals; require Zubiri, Ejercito, and Gatchalian to explain in writing why they withdrew; furnish a certified copy to the Ethics Committee for the pending complaints, and order Ejercito to inhibit from all proceedings involving Escudero.
Aceron said the basis of their petition is Article III, Section 7 of the 1987 Constitution, or the right of the people to information on matters of public concern.
“Self-executory. No permission needed,” he said.
Lacson, in a separate text message to the Inquirer also on Thursday, said they will respond to the petition after consultation with the Senate legal and blue ribbon committee members.
The draft report caused a stir late on Tuesday after it was leaked to the media.
Sotto said then that the circulating draft report was unofficial and that some panel members even signed it when it was not necessary to do so, prompting the three senators to withdraw their signatures.
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