Senate rules not one-sided, Joker Arroyo told

Senate President Franklin Drilon: Not one-sided. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Senate President Franklin Drilon on Monday rejected the suggestion of former Sen. Joker Arroyo to amend the rules of the Senate blue ribbon committee that were supposedly one-sided.

Drilon said there was no need to change the Senate rules in relation to the ongoing investigation of the alleged overpriced Makati parking building, saying these rules had served the Senate well in previous investigations of corruption and malfeasance.

“First of all, the rules have been proven to work. We must remember that the blue ribbon committee is not a judicial proceeding, nor is it a criminal investigation. It is primarily in aid of legislation and in seeking the truth. The rules have been there, and they work well, and they continue to work well,” Drilon said in a statement.

He also pointed out that the committee’s rules were the same ones prevailing when Arroyo himself had chaired the blue ribbon committee.

These rules were also the ones in place and helped the committee uncover the truth behind the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. deal, and to discover the anomalies in the NorthRail project and the fertilizer scam, he said.

“Those rules have been there for a long time, and I am not in favor of amending them,” he added.

Interviewed over dzBB radio, Arroyo said on Sunday the Senate committee’s rules were unfair and “one-sided” and the Senate should reexamine how it conducts proceedings.

Arroyo had disliked the rule prohibiting witnesses and their counsel from cross-examining other witnesses, saying that someone being investigated would then be unable to question another witness who called him a crook.

He also questioned why the Senate continued its investigation on a matter that was already the subject of a criminal case, and why it held hearings even if only two members of the 21-member committee were present.

He lamented as well that these hearings rarely produced committee reports, and some senators even tried to avoid signing these reports.

Arroyo made the call to revisit the rules as he noted that the Senate’s approval ratings had taken a nosedive.

The blue ribbon committee is currently investigating the alleged overpricing of the Makati parking building, which is the subject of a plunder case against Vice President Jejomar Binay and his son, Makati Mayor Junjun Binay.

The Binays have said the case and the Senate probe were politically motivated, and denied the allegations of overpricing.

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