Recent Senate inquiries have lead to public humiliation - Joker

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Joker Arroyo expressed concern yesterday that the recent Senate investigations have become an avenue for “fishing expedition” of information against personalities whom the Aquino administration wanted to pin down in its campaign against graft and corruption.

The senator said this is the reason why he was not participating in the ongoing Senate inquiries focusing on the alleged wrongdoings during the administration of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“It is okay if you dig deeper in some anomalies - that’s the purpose of in aid of legislation. Honestly, have we really made legislation as a consequence of the hearings?” he told a radio interview.

Arroyo said former defense secretary Angelo Reyes committed suicide apparently out of the embarrassment caused to him by the Senate inquiry that dealt with his alleged illegal wealth during the hearing on the plea bargain agreement with former military comptroller Carlos Garcia.

He surmised that the recent Senate exposés could have driven Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) lawyer Benjamin Pinpin to commit suicide for fear of embarrassment, not only for himself, but also for his colleagues who were dragged into the behest loan controversy.

Arroyo, former chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, said the Senate has not churned out as many laws as in past inquiries it conducted.

Arroyo said the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice have not acted on the reports submitted by the committee.

He recommended that the impending inquiry into the alleged poll fraud in the 2004 and 2007 elections should be tossed to the joint panel of the Department of Justice and Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The Senate had become a “half-way house” for resource persons turned whistle-blowers, Arroyo added.