Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Monday said he is in favor of continuing the Blue Ribbon Committee on anomalous flood control projects since a lot of things still need to be “unearthed.”
In a chance interview after the flag raising ceremony in the Senate, Sotto said the panel should invite former Speaker Martin Romualdez and other individuals linked to the FCPs who were not yet given the chance to testify or disclose what they know of the government projects.
“Oo, marami pang mga nangyayari dapat maungkat hindi lang sa Visayas at Mindanao, doon sa 2025 budget… Yun ang budget killer. Doon talaga nagkaloko-loko
(Yes, because many more are needed to be unearthed in the Visayas and Mindanao regions, in the 2025 national budget…That [2025 budget] is the budget killer when everything went berserk),” he said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, who is also BRC chairman, previously said that he suspended the resumption of the BRC hearings until the partial committee report has been signed by at least nine of the 17 regular committee members so he can report it out on the floor.
Lacson was supposed to call for a hearing last April 14 but postponed it until further notice due to the lack of a sworn affidavit from former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson, who said he will disclose the alleged participation of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the anomalous flood control projects and budget insertions.
To date only senators signed the partial committee report. They were Sotto, Lacson, and Senators Risa Hontiveros, Francis Pangilinan, Paolo Benigno Aquino, and Erwin Tulfo.