Drilon: John O to keep Senate government corporation committee

Senate President Franklin Drilon said yesterday that opposition Sen. John Osmeña would continue to head the committee on government corporations and public enterprises, the panel charged to investigate, among other things, the alleged involvement of former President Fidel Ramos in the "anomalous and onerous" government contracts with independent power producers (IPPs).

Drilon said that it has been the policy of the majority since the tenure of the late Senate President Marcelo Fernan to allow an opposition senator to head one committee.

Osmeña has decided to give up the chairmanship of the committees on finance and on local government, but will retain that on the committee on government corporations and public enterprises.

Drilon said that Osmeña will make his own judgment on who to summon to hearings, and the Senate leadership will not interfere in the exercise of this judgment.

He, however, stressed that this does not mean Osmeña could automatically issue a subpoena for the appearance of Ramos.

"As a matter of procedure, you just don’t issue a subpoena –you issue an invitation, especially to a former president. You accord him the due respect," Drilon said.

Osmeña said he would start public hearings on the alleged anomalous IPP contracts Wednesday next week. He said that Malacañang’s clearance of Mr. Ramos would not sway his committee at all from determining the actual involvement of the former president in the IPP contracts, especially the 27 described as legally flawed and onerous by a review committee.

He stressed, however, that in the committee hearing next Wednesday, he would invite only former National Power Corp. chairman Guido Delgado, a certain Catalino Tan whom he described as a Ramos crony, and some former Napocor officials.

Osmeña cited the multi-billion-peso Binga hydroelectric rehabilitation project as an IPP project that involved both Ramos and Tan.

He claimed that the government was defrauded of hundreds of millions in the contract for the rehabilitation of Binga hydroelectric dam that was awarded to China’s Chiang Jiang.

"The Binga project supposedly awarded to Chiang Jiang is being handled by Ramos cronies Catalino Tan and Joey Rufino," he added.

He identified Tan as "an old-time crony of Ramos who is the supplier of uniforms and materials for the military."

"It is one project where the fingerprints of President Ramos are all over the place. We are told that there are documents with marginal notes written by President Ramos himself, so we will all bring these out," Osmeña added.

Meanwhile, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee headed by Sen. Joker Arroyo will start hearing this afternoon the IPP contract for the construction of the Casecnan transbasin multipurpose project.

The investigation will pursue the claim of Sen. Rodolfo Biazon that the Casecnan is a hydro-electric project with neither water nor electricity, but the government continues to pay millions to the project proponent.

Earlier, Osmeña also claimed that a classmate of Ramos at West Point won the Casecnan project contract. He said that the American company headed by retired Gen. Donald Oshie was given the Casecnan project "without the benefit of a duly advertised public bidding."

He said Casecnan power-irrigation project that seeks to harness the Casecnan River in Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and Nueva Ecija, was causing the government P3 billion a year even before it became operational.