The Manila Times
(UPDATE) FORMER speaker Martin Romualdez, four other lawmakers, and 18 alleged bagmen were no-shows at the organizational meeting for the resumption of the Senate’s investigation into the flood control bribery scandal. Sen. Erwin Tulfo, chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee under the new majority bloc, led the meeting. Sen. Pia Cayetano, who belonged to the minority bloc, insisted that she remained the real Blue Ribbon chief and did not attend. Others who were invited but did not appear were Reps. Zia Alonto Adiong, Jose Alvarez, Jam Baronda, and Leila de Lima. The BRC secretariat said House of Representatives Secretary General Cheloy Garafil has sent a letter to the Senate “respectfully declining the invitation on the grounds of parliamentary courtesy.” Sen. Francis Pangilinan clarified that the proceedings held by Tulfo was a consultation and organizational meeting rather than a hearing to “facilitate the orderly transition and continuity of the committee’s work pending the completion of its reorganization and membership and formal constitution of the [Blue Ribbon] committee.” The 18 former soldiers, who Sen. Raffy Tulfo described as fugitive ex-lawmaker Zaldy Co’s bodyguards or “porters,” claimed that they delivered millions of pesos in suitcases to several former and incumbent lawmakers. They were present during the hearing on June 4 conducted by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta under the Cayetano bloc. They arrived accompanied by their counsel, Levito Baligod. But instead of attending the new Blue Ribbon meeting Monday, they opted to meet with Sen. Robinhood Padilla, who is also with the minority. Tulfo asked Padilla and Co’s former aides to attend the meeting, but the senator and Baligod refused and conducted a press briefing instead. Sen. JV Ejercito expressed disappointment over the former soldiers’ decision to skip the meeting. “It’s a pity. It was their chance to air their side. This meeting was not meant to discredit them,” he said in a chance interview. Sen. Vicente Sotto III said the 18 former soldiers may have been used and could end up taking the blame for wrongdoing in the preparation of a joint affidavit linked to the flood control scandal. “I actually sympathize with the 18 ex-bodyguards because it seems like they are really being used. It’s sad because later on they might be the ones who will take the blame for all the wrongdoing of the one who prepared the joint affidavit,” said Sotto. The Senate cut short its public hearing on the flood control bribery scandal in deference to the victims of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck General Santos City Monday morning. Palace recognizes new majority Meanwhile, Malacañang brushed off the suggestion of the camp of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano to have in place interim administrative arrangements, insisting it now recognizes the leadership of Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian. In a proposal coursed through lawyer Jose Luis Montes, Cayetano suggested the adoption of a joint certification by current officials and those still asserting authority on pertinent documents and official transactions. “Again, the one the executive recognizes is Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian. There is no good in such an arrangement right now. It could turn out just like what happened in the House of Representatives where they already had a term sharing agreement that Sen. Alan Cayetano did not immediately implement,” Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro said in Filipino in a press briefing. Castro was referring to the leadership impasse in the lower house in October 2020 when Cayetano, who had a term-sharing agreement with Lord Alan Velasco, refused to give up the speakership. At the time, a majority of 186 lawmakers gathered at the Celebrity Sports Plaza in Quezon City and declared the post of speaker vacant, then elected Velasco as speaker. Castro urged Cayetano to stop pointing to the Palace as the mastermind behind the chamber’s leadership mess and playing the victim card. “Our only request is that the said official not act as if he were the victim. The chaos in the Senate has left many victims. The first and foremost victims are the people who believe in the integrity of the Senate. This chaos occurred under the leadership of former Senate president Alan Cayetano. All this chaos is not due to Malacañang’s intervention,” Castro said. The disarray in the Senate, such as the shooting incident that happened last May 13 and the “escape” of Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, “was also approved” by Cayetano, Castro said. “If Malacañang indeed had any intervention, none of this would have happened,” Castro said. It is not the Palace that people should be wary of but those who are “hypocritical and pretending to be holy,” she added. Castro also dismissed the 18 alleged bagmen of Co as “garbage collectors” for hurling accusations that were trash. One of them had claimed to have delivered suitcases full of cash to the residence of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Paoay, Ilocos Norte.
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