Grace Poe won’t leave committee posts

SENATOR Grace Poe said there is no need for her to leave her committee posts to follow the lead of her close friend, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who resigned from two finance panels in Congress.

Poe chairs the Senate committees on public information and mass media, and public order and dangerous drugs. Aside from the committee, she is also a co-chair of the congressional oversight committee on dangerous drugs and the joint oversight committee on the Human Security Act.

Poe and Escudero were the voters’ top choice for president and vice president, respectively based on the latest Pulse Asia survey. But the two have yet to publicly declare their plans in 2016.

“Yung para sa committee ko, hindi naman dahil alam mo, may ibang layer ang committee ko. Halimbawa na lang, ang public order committee, pero ang nangangasiwa pa rin ay ang DILG. At ang nangangasiwa pa rin ng public information ay, kunwari, MTRCB,” she said.

DILG is the Department of the Interior and Local Government while MTRCB stands for Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.

(My committees have different layers like the public order committee, the one that supervises (public order) is still the DILG. And the one that still handles public information, for example, is the MTRCB)

“Hindi naman po direkta at hindi po pera ang pinanghahawakan ng committee ko kaya hindi naman po kinakailangan,” Poe said when asked if she also needs to resign from her committees.

(My committees are not directly involved and are not handling finances so there’s no need to resign.)

Escudero resigned as chairman of the Senate committee on finance and co-chairman of the joint congressional oversight committee on public expenditures lest he be accused of using his post for his possible run next year.

Poe backed Escudero’s move, saying that the latter was holding a fragile and very sensitive position as chairman of the finance committee.

“I think that’s really his personal decision but if he asks for my advice, I’ll probably say the same thing,” she said.

“Importante kasi iyon lalong-lalo na kung nagpaplano ka, halimbawa, at mayroon kang delikadong posisyon na hinahawakan—halimbawa na lang yung budget. Mas mabuti na wala silang sinasabi na may bahid ka at wala kang impluwensya para sa mga gagawin na desisyon kung saan ilalagay ang pera.”

“Alam mo kasi, masyadong fragile o masyadong sensitibo kapag ang pinag-uusapan natin ay ang pera ng bayan. Pwede ka talagang masabihan na ginagamit mo ito para sa sarili mong interes kaya tama ang ginawa ni Senator Chiz na bitawan niya ang committee na iyan,” Poe added.