MANILA, Philippines — The Senate blue ribbon panel may cite the 18 alleged bagmen of former congressman Zaldy Co in contempt and order their arrest should they continue to ignore its invitations to attend its hearings into the flood control projects mess, two senators warned on Monday.
“Let us invite these 18 individuals again to the next meeting and in the coming days,” Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said during the panel’s meeting led by its new chairman, Sen. Erwin Tulfo.
“At the proper time, if they continue to refuse, we can at the right time compel them to attend, subpoena them and if they refuse, we can have them cited in contempt and may be arrested when the blue ribbon committee has been fully constituted,” Pangilinan added.
Tulfo agreed with Pangilinan, calling the alleged bagmen’s absence in the meeting as an “insult.”
READ: 18 alleged ‘bodyguards’ snub Erwin Tulfo-led blue ribbon panel meeting
Instead of facing the blue ribbon panel, the alleged bagmen held a press conference in Sen. Robin Padilla’s office on the fifth floor of the Senate while Tulfo’s panel was conducting its meeting in the session hall located on the second floor of the chamber.
During the nearly three hours of the panel’s meeting, Tulfo repeatedly called on the 18 to join their proceeding that he even directed the committee staff at least twice to go to Padilla’s office and talk to the invited resource persons.
“It would be better if they came down here so they could present what they want to say and so we could properly question them, instead of simply holding press conferences,” he said.
The meeting ended without the 18 alleged witnesess.
The alleged bagmen appeared in a supposed hearing conducted last week by allies of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who insists that he remains the Senate president despite the chamber’s approval of a motion to declare all seats vacant.
In that supposed hearing, the witnesses repeated their previous claim that they delivered cash-filled suitcases to certain government officials and lawmakers, including Tulfo, who vehemently denied the allegations.
READ: ‘Ex-marines’ repeat kickback claims; Sotto, Tulfo named
Following this attempt to drag him into the scandal, Tulfo said he would be ready to inhibit from the flood control probe.
“Definitely, I will inhibit myself,” he said, “I was already planning to do so, but this is only a meeting. Once the formal hearing begins, I will announce my inhibition and turn the floor over to the vice chair, or we will create a subcommittee.”
After declaring all seats vacant on June 3, a new set of officials was elected, including Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian. /das