Senate To Formalize 18 Men’s Testimony On June 8

Eighteen mostly former soldiers have been invited to the Blue Ribbon flood control probe on Monday, June 8, Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian said, to shed light on their allegations of kickbacks delivered by luggage.

The 18 were invited to attend the hearing to be led by Blue Ribbon committee chair Sen. Erwin Tulfo, Gatchalian told dzMM on Friday, June 5.

Gatchalian described the Thursday “Blue Ribbon probe” as “unofficial” because its chair, Sen. Pia Cayetano, and the other allies of embattled Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano had been stripped of their posts when Gatchalian’s bloc took control of the chamber.

“What happened (on Thursday) was not a hearing but a gathering,” Gatchalian said. “The hearing set for Monday, that is the official hearing, with the chairman being Sen. Erwin Tulfo.” 

Gatchalian said the 18 are welcome to repeat their allegations that they delivered kickbacks in suitcases to several administration officials led by President Marcos himself.

“Whatever they said (on Thursday), that is not official. If they want to repeat that, they can repeat on Monday because the 18 Marines are invited on Monday,” Gatchalian said.

He said even the senators who led the “unofficial” Thursday “hearing” – the two Cayetanos, Rodante Marcoleta, Loren Legarda and Imee Marcos – are welcome to attend the scheduled hearing on June 8.

Gatchalian, the acting Senate president, said the senators dragged by the former soldiers are welcome to attend – even Legarda, who attended the Thursday hearing even though she had been named in the affidavit as supposed recipient of flood control kickbacks.

“They should attend if they really want the truth to come out and they want to expose, they should go to the official hearing,” he said.

Besides Tulfo and Sen. Vicente Sotto III, Senators Legarda and Mark Villar were named in the ex-soldiers’ affidavit, which was drafted when they were still with the Sotto-led majority.

Accused by Cayetano as a “fake Senate President,” Gatchalian offered a reconciliatory hand and said the new majority and the Cayetano bloc should settle their differences and resume work after weeks of impasse.

He defended their 12-senator quorum during the shakeup last Wednesday, June 3, saying it is compliant with the Avelino doctrine on quorum based on the chamber’s coercive jurisdiction and that a 12-senator quorum had been done in past sessions, even those attended by senators of the Cayetano bloc.

Gatchalian also commiserated with the Senate employees torn between who to follow, adding that he will cite Civil Service Commission documents to assure them that they would not be found insubordinate if they follow the new leadership instead of the Cayetano bloc.

In his lengthy press briefing on Thursday, June 4, Cayetano asked Senate employees to tap into their conscience and recognize his leadership, asking them: “Is your loyalty to the institution or to certain personalities?” – With an additional report from Artemio Dumlao