Gordon: ‘Delays’ in Senate probe not due to blue ribbon panel, but Duterte

FILE PHOTO: Senator Richard Gordon and President Rodrigo Duterte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

MANILA, Philippines — The “delays” are due to President Rodrigo Duterte, not the Senate blue ribbon committee.

Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee probing the alleged irregularities in the national government’s COVID-19 spending, had this to say on Thursday about remarks that his panel’s investigation has been going on longer than it should.

“If there is delay, and I hope other senators would join me here, the delay is caused not by the Senate blue ribbon committee but by the President himself who’s not only been consistently defending his people,” Gordon said.

“I don’t know why [he’s defending] Michael Yang, a Chinese economic adviser of his; defending Lao, an appointee of his and all these other people; and has now told his Cabinet members, I don’t know for what reason, he refuses to send them to us for no valid reason,” he added.

To recall, Duterte earlier issued a memorandum formally prohibiting his Cabinet officials from attending the Senate probe on the government’s procurement of allegedly overpriced pandemic supplies last year from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.

Duterte said he was not against the investigation, but his officials should no longer be involved, especially those concerned in the government’s pandemic response.

The Senate is set to file a petition before the Supreme Court objecting to Duterte’s memorandum—a move that Duterte accepted.