Senate sets Malampaya scam probe

MANILA, Philippines — Apparently bowing to pressure, the Senate Blue Ribbon committee has set the initial hearing on the alleged misuse of the Malampaya Fund on Sept. 25 or about a month from now.

Committee chairman Senator Teofisto Guingona III said the conduct of the public hearings will be "in fulfillment of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's mandate to investigate alleged wrongdoings of the government and its public officials."

Guingona issued the statement after members of the Senate minority bloc including Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Nancy Binay and Joseph Victor Ejercito reiterated their respective calls for the Senate body to start the inquiry.

On Monday, Binay expressed concern over the apparent lack of interest by the Senate Blue Ribbon to start the inquiry.

"What happened to the resolutions calling for a probe on the Malampaya Fund scam? If we truly want to uncover the truth then by now, the panel should have at least held one hearing on the issue," Binay said in a statement.

Binay urged Guingona to start the investigation on the Malampaya Fund scam as soon as possible.

"Let us show the people that we are committed to investigating the anomalies hounding our government," said Binay, whose own father, Vice President Jejomar Binay and sibling, Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, are also being investigated by the Senate over the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall building 2.

Binay is proposing that the Blue Ribbon also create a sub-committee to tackle the anomaly, as it did when it tasked Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III to handle the Makati probe.

The Blue Ribbon Committee has earlier deferred the Malampaya Fund scam hearing, citing the unavailability of its resource person from the Commission on Audit.

"I hope Senator TG would soon realize that the Malampaya Fund scam is as important as the other cases being tackled by the Blue Ribbon Committee," Binay said.

Ejercito earlier filed a resolution on the matter while his half-brother, Estrada, urged the Senate to uncover the Malampaya anomaly but the calls had fell on deaf ears among their pro-administration colleagues.

Estrada, who is now detained for plunder charges over pork barrel fund misuse, hinted that former presidential liason officer Ruby Tuason got over P 100-milion kickbacks out of transactions related to the Malampaya fund misuse.

Tuason, who worked at the Palace during the term of Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, had accused Estrada of taking cash kickbacks out of his pork barrel fund allocations but the detained senator has denied the allegations.

Among the senators, Ralph Recto said he is curious how the government spent the P 900-million Malampaya funds which had early on been certified by the National Treasurer to have been spent during the past administration.

Binay raised the concern even as alleged pork barrel scam brains Janet Lim-Napoles, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and several others are facing plunder complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman for their supposed hand in the Malampaya Fund anomaly.

Napoles is currently detained at Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna over a serious illegal detention case.

"I fear that the issue has been placed on the backburner now that the alleged mastermind of the pork barrel racket who is also involved in the Malampaya Fund scam, Janet Lim-Napoles, has been placed behind bars," Binay said.

"This should not make us complacent, in fact, we should work harder to solve these cases now that we can summon Napoles to the hearings," Binay added.