Lacson to initiate ‘internal cleansing’ of Blue Ribbon panel

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said that he will conduct an “internal cleansing” of the Blue Ribbon committee, which he now chairs, after a supposed staff of the panel was linked to the anomalies in flood control projects. 

This developed after Bulacan 1st district assistant engineer Brice Hernandez, during a House hearing on Tuesday, showed conversations in December 2022 with a certain Beng Ramos, whom he said was a staff of Senator Jinggoy Estrada.

Estrada said that he had no staff named Beng Ramos since he entered the Senate in 2004, adding that the person was under the Senate blue ribbon committee and was a former girlfriend of one of his staff. 

Lacson, meanwhile, underscored the importance of cleansing the committee as it is responsible to look into government misconduct and to check accountability.

“Since I am not sure if there is only one Beng Ramos in the Blue Ribbon Committee which I was just elected by my peers to chair, just like DPWH Sec Vince Dizon, maybe I also need to do a simultaneous internal cleansing while buckling down to work,” the senator said. 

Lacson was elected as the new chairman of the powerful Blue Ribbon panel on Tuesday, replacing Senator Rodante Marcoleta.

Investigation

Estrada’s office on Tuesday requested the office of Senate Secretary Atty. Renato Bantug Jr. to investigate the matter, stressing that Ramos “was never authorized to use the Senator’s name nor to act in his behalf.”

“If proven guilty of misrepresenting the Senator, we expect that she will be meted with the appropriate penalty,” Estrada’s chief of staff Atty. Racquel Mejia wrote in the letter. 

Estrada also said earlier that he would file a case against Hernandez over the latter's allegations in a House congressional inquiry that he received a 30% kickback from P355 million worth of allocations. —AOL, GMA Integrated News