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SENATE<\/strong> President Pro Tempore and Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson on Sunday said that documents, a computer and other items retrieved by dismissed Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineer Brice Hernandez to support the claims he made before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s investigation into anomalous flood control projects will undergo proper procedure to preserve the chain of custody.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lacson also said he has set the next hearing of the Blue Ribbon Committee at 9 a.m. of Tuesday, Sept. 22, due to “new developments,” and has prepared invitations to some former DPWH officials.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n “He brought back items, including documents and a computer, but these items are sealed for now. We will follow a procedure to preserve the chain of custody,” he said in Filipino, in an interview on DZBB radio.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n “We need to preserve the chain of custody so that if the evidence is vital to a case, it will not be compromised,” he added.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hernandez was allowed to leave the Senate premises Saturday to gather evidence on his allegations of payoffs and kickbacks, including to Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva and former Rep. Mitch Cajayon-Uy.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Estrada, Villanueva and Uy have denied the allegations.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lacson said that if the evidence includes evidence of kickbacks or commissions, he will immediately send them to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) for investigation and prosecution.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n He reiterated that the Blue Ribbon and ICI are complementary and not competing.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Even if the Blue Ribbon Committee has not finished its probe or come out with a committee report, I will send those pieces of evidence to the ICI to help in its own investigation,” he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n EX-DPWH OFFICIALS MUST EXPLAIN<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lacson said resigned DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan and retired Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo may be among those invited as they have much to explain in the next hearings of the Blue Ribbon Committee.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n He said Bernardo was among the persons in a photo taken with the DPWH’s “BGC Boys,” engineers involved in the corruption behind substandard and ghost projects in Bulacan’s first engineering district.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The BGC (Bulacan Group of Contractors) Boys, who included Hernandez, allegedly gambled away hundreds of millions of pesos in taxpayers’ money in casinos.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lacson, who noted Bernardo was responsible for the appointment to the Bulacan first DEO of Henry Alcantara and Hernandez, said the photo was taken at a “tambayan” or the house of Loren Cruz, Alcantara’s alleged bagman.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n “What was Bernardo doing in that gathering with the BGC Boys? He has some explaining to do,” Lacson said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n As for Bonoan, Lacson said he is the appointing authority and may need to shed light on how more than P600 million in cash deliveries were made by Syms Construction owner Sally Santos to the first District Engineering Office this year.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n DISCAYAS, WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meanwhile, Lacson said he and Senate President Vicente Sotto III will meet on Monday with Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla to discuss the bids of personalities in the case who want to be in the Witness Protection Program. These include Hernandez and Cezarah and Pacifico Discaya II.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lacson said that while Hernandez has already shown signs of remorse and willingness to cooperate, Pacifico Discaya II appeared “opportunistic” and still did not cooperate at last Thursday’s hearing even after being granted legislative immunity, unlike Santos.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n He said it is important that the Discayas show good faith, including restitution. When asked if they can do this by repairing substandard and ghost projects, Lacson said it is possible but only if they do it at their own expense.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n “They should not obligate the government to assist them because they already cheated the government,” he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lacson also said Santos, who detailed the cash deliveries she made to the BGC Boys, is now in protective custody, with personnel from the Philippine National Police’s Police Security and Protection Group (PSPG) augmenting her security.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SENATE President Pro Tempore and Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson on Sunday said that documents, a computer and other items retrieved by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16519"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16521,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16519\/revisions\/16521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}