Robin Padilla's camp denies probe dare vs. Sandro Marcos

The office of Senator Robinhood Padilla on Monday dismissed as “fake news” online posts claiming he had challenged House Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos to appear before the Senate for an investigation.

Padilla’s chief of staff, lawyer Rudolf Philip Jurado, said the Senate committees on public information and mass media, and on cultural communities and Muslim affairs—both chaired by the senator—have no involvement in matters related to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) or the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

Such matters are outside the jurisdiction of Padilla's committees, Jurado said.

“The posts circulating online are not true—they are simply another piece of fake news,” Jurado said in a statement.

Several social media posts, mostly pro-Duterte Facebook pages and widely shared by their supporters, quoted Padilla as supposedly challenging Sandro Marcos to open himself to investigation by the Senate.

Sandro Marcos, the eldest son of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., had earlier told the ICI that he is “willing to appear before the Commission at any time.”

His statement followed allegations from former Ako Bicol party-list representative Zaldy Co that the President and his son supposedly ordered billions of fund insertions into the national budget.

Sandro Marcos has rejected the accusation, calling it part of a destabilization attempt.

According to Jurado, the senator does not want to preempt any action by the ICI or the Blue Ribbon Committee in their probe into anomalous flood control projects.

“The Office also clarifies that it does not have the authority, in aid of legislation, to subpoena or summon any individual regarding issues outside the mandate of Senator Padilla’s committees,” Jurado added.

Padilla’s office urged the public to rely on official and credible sources “to avoid being misled by fabricated or distorted claims.”—MCG, GMA Integrated News