Lacson won’t sign Dengvaxia report due to Gordon’s ‘unreasonable’ remark

Senators Richard Gordon and Ping Lacson. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

Senator Panfilo Lacson has firmed up his decision not to sign a draft committee report on the Dengvaxia controversy, following a colleague’s “unreasonable” comments against him.

Lacson was referring to Senator Richard Gordon, who had said that he was no longer surprised with the former’s stand against the draft report because of his friendship with former President Benigno Aquino III.

READ: Gordon: 10 senators to sign committee report on Dengvaxia probe

“The unreasonable comments made by Senator Gordon about me… just firmed up my decision not to sign his committee report,” Lacson said in a text message on Monday.

“While I did not attend a single hearing on Dengvaxia for obvious reason shared by most of my colleagues, I was closely monitoring the proceedings in my office.

“Having said that, even that early I had my reservations based on his prejudgement which was too obvious to ignore. He (Gordon) was directing the investigation to suit the outcome that he had desired from the very start,” Lacson said.

As chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, Gordon released last week a draft report, recommending the filing of charges against Aquino and other former government officials in connection with the botched P3.5 billion Dengvaxia vaccine.

Lacson immediately commented on the draft report, saying he found it “difficult” to believe that Aquino was “capable of committing graft and corruption.”

READ: Graft case recommendation vs Aquino leaves Lacson in disbelief

But in an interview over the weekend, Gordon said he was no longer surprised that Lacson and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV disagreed with the draft report as the two were allies of the former leader.

The draft report has yet to get the signatures of majority members of the committee before it is transmitted to the plenary for deliberations. /je