Gordon: Blue ribbon panel chair must be independent

Sen. Richard Gordon FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The next chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee must ensure independence from Malacañang if he or she wants to succeed, outgoing chair Sen. Richard Gordon said on Saturday.

In a Viber message, Gordon told reporters that anyone aspiring to become chairperson of the Senate committee on good government and public accountability must make sure to carry out the functions of the office, regardless of who gets involved.

“If you are certain that you can not do it (investigation) because the president or his administration is involved, you should not accept [the position],” he said.

The chairmanship of the blue ribbon committee is expected to be contested by Sen. Francis Tolentino and returning Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, and will be decided by a vote among administration senators.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, who appears to be the incoming Senate president, earlier picked Tolentino to head the blue ribbon panel, but Cayetano said he would only join the majority bloc if he is given the chairmanship of the panel.

Gordon, who failed in his reelection bid in May, seemed to be referencing his experience as outgoing chair of the blue ribbon committee, which wrapped up one of its most high-profile investigations on a sour note after its partial committee report failed to get the majority support from its 20 members.

At the close of the 18th Congress, the blue ribbon committee terminated its probe of the alleged misuse of about P67.3- billion funding of the Department of Health, including P42 billion for pandemic response.

The committee’s “partial” report was met with disagreement from administration senators because it supposedly contained a recommendation finding President Rodrigo Duterte liable for betrayal of public trust, an impeachable offense.

Close ties

In an earlier interview, Gordon stood by the findings of the blue ribbon report, citing the reasons for finding the President liable.

He noted that Duterte was the appointing authority of officials of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), who are accused of manipulating the award of contracts to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Inc.

The president is said to have close ties with executives of Pharmally, including its supposed financier, Chinese businessman Michael Yang, a former presidential economic adviser.

Instead of supporting the investigation, the President came to the defense of PS-DBM and Pharmally officials, Gordon lamented.

“What is sad about it is that the executive [department] was even blocking the attendance of its officers in the hearing. [The Senate is] a co-equal branch, and if I were the executive, he should have called up the Senate President and told him to ‘just do the investigation properly because the people have a lot of questions,’” he said.

RELATED STORY

Senate blue ribbon panel a toss-up between Tolentino, Cayetano