Martin Romualdez, Zaldy Co to be invited to Senate flood control probe
MANILA, Philippines — Resigned lawmaker Zaldy Co and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez will be invited to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s probe into anomalous flood-control projects, panel chair Senate President Pro Tempore Ping Lacson said Tuesday, September 30.
Lacson denied accusations that he was shielding certain personalities in the case. He had clashed with Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, the committee’s former chair, over the handling of the investigation.
Marcoleta had questioned why House members linked to the scandal could not be called to testify.
“For the next hearing of the committee, we will send an invitation letter to [Co’s] address. Now we know he is abroad and will not show up. If that is the case, we will issue a subpoena, and then a show-cause order,” Lacson told reporters.
“If the show-cause order is not satisfactory, we will cite him in contempt of the committee and issue a warrant for his arrest,” he added.
Summons issue. Inter-parliamentary courtesy had initially protected Co from being summoned while he was a sitting congressman. His resignation, however, now allows the Senate to issue a subpoena if he refuses to appear.
As for Romualdez, Lacson said the invitation would be sent through current House Speaker Bojie Dy “out of courtesy.”
Ongoing probe. The Blue Ribbon Committee has been investigating irregularities in flood-control projects that allegedly involved lawmakers and contractors from both chambers of Congress.
Sens. Chiz Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva have been accused of receiving kickbacks from budget insertions for Bulacan flood-control projects.
Co, meanwhile, has been accused of delivering billions in alleged kickback cash to Romualdez.
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