LACSON ON FLOOD CONTROL ‘MINORITY REPORT’: RESPECT BEGETS RESPECT

“HOW will I respect a document that symbolizes disrespect towards the Blue Ribbon Committee and the entire Senate?”

Senate President Pro Tempore and Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson thus scored the  so called “minority report” on the flood control scandal, as he stressed that there is only one Blue Ribbon Committee that is investigating the issue.

Lacson said that under the Rules of the Senate, a committee report can be reported out only by the Blue Ribbon Committee, and after it is signed by majority of the committee’s members – not by just six of nine members of the minority bloc.

“Respect begets respect. How will I as chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee treat with respect a document that symbolizes disrespect toward the Blue Ribbon Committee and the entire Senate both of which they are members?” he said in English and Filipino in an interview on DZMM.

“So there is no other place for that ‘minority report’ but the trash bin,” he added.

When asked in a separate interview on GTV’s Balitanghali if he read the report, Lacson said:“No, I did not.”

Lacson was referring to the 576-page “report” that the minority bloc presented to Senate media last Tuesday. The report had been submitted to the Office of the Senate President last Dec. 10 and first presented to the media in a forum last Dec. 11.

In a separate interview on DZBB, Lacson pointed out that the minority bloc has members who are veteran lawmakers and they should know that if they want to give their inputs, they can do so by proposing amendments to the Blue Ribbon Committee’s Committee Report.

“They can introduce amendments to the committee report that will be adopted on the floor -not come up with their own version of a ‘report’. Is that not a show of disrespect?” he said.

Lacson questioned as well some of the minority members’ repeated criticisms and belittling of the Blue Ribbon Committee’s hearings that he presided, noting that they are also members of the committee and could actually attend and ask questions.

“They are members of the committee but now they are nitpicking our hearings. Being members, why don’t they just attend and show the evidence they claim to have?” he said.

“It is not wrong to criticize but it should be constructive, and not meant to undermine the Committee,” he added.

Lacson reiterated as well that the evidence gathered through the Blue Ribbon Committee’s hearings helped greatly in building cases against several personalities, many of whom now face cases in court.

“So the Blue Ribbon Committee was a great help in addressing the issue. For some to belittle it, that is an insult to the entire Senate,” he said.

MEDIA STUNT

When asked to comment on Senate President Vicente Sotto III’s observation that the “minority report” was made for medIa, Lacson agreed. “That is the only purpose of the ‘report,'” he said.

“That ‘minority report’ is not worth discussing because it is not in the rules,” Lacson added