Any prospective investigation by the Senate into the shooting incident inside its premises last May 13 should focus on remedial measures rather than criminal liability, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson said Friday.
Lacson said law enforcement agencies already probing the incident should handle the criminal investigation, adding it would be awkward for the Senate to investigate itself.
“I will suggest that we let the National Bureau of Investigation or Philippine National Police, or even the Department of Justice, do the investigation. Limit the Committee of the Whole Inquiry’s inquiry into coming up with remedial legislation or administrative remedies so there will be no repeat of what happened last May 13. We should not interfere in the aspect of who is at fault or who should face charges,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino in an interview on True FM.
“For me, it’s really awkward for us to be investigating ourselves,” Lacson, who served as an investigator and chief of the PNP from 1999 to 2001, added in an interview on DZBB radio.
Otherwise, he said “we would become a spectacle again if we point fingers at each other, so it’s better to have a focused and positive approach.”
He said he will raise this on Monday when the Senate resumes its session and discusses the issue.
Lacson said he wants to take a closer look at the closed-circuit TV (CCTV) footage not only of the May 13 incident, but of the events starting May 11, when Sen. Ronald dela Rosa entered the Senate, until he left the Senate premises before dawn of May 14.
He said this will not only address claims that the videos released earlier by authorities were “spliced,” but also show how the NBI tried to serve the arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court on dela Rosa.
“We will stick to the facts as it happened and unfolded,” he said.
Lacson noted that the NBI had tried to serve the ICC’s arrest warrant on dela Rosa, but assigned two female agents to do the job. Dela Rosa had managed to get past the agents and reach the session hall last May 11.
“If the NBI had assigned five bigger agents, what happened last May 11 might not have happened,” he said.
Lacson also said anyone seeking to hold Sen. Robinhood Padilla accountable for supposedly helping dela Rosa escape may file a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee, which cannot initiate a probe on its own.
“A complaint has to be filed and it has to be sufficient in form and substance for the ethics committee to act on it,” he said, adding it would be better if a civilian filed it because a senator who files a complaint will have to inhibit himself or herself from the case.