Since his ouster as Senate president, Francis Escudero has largely kept to himself. Until last Monday, when he came out swinging – against resigned House speaker Martin Romualdez.
What got Senator Chiz in a fighting mood, it seems, was Romualdez being spared (so far) from recommendations for criminal indictments in connection with the mangling of the national budget and flood control corruption.
Romualdez has also not been mentioned among the lawmakers who are being probed by the Commission on Elections for receiving campaign contributions from contractors doing business with the government.
Pro-Duterte senators have complained that a witness presented at a Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta (reportedly without the courtesy of a heads up to panel chair Panfilo Lacson) has not been taken seriously by probers.
The witness, ex-Marine bodyguard Orly Guteza, had tagged both Romualdez and Zaldy Co in alleged massive kickbacks delivered to their homes in cold cash. Guteza was reportedly introduced to Marcoleta by former Quezon City congressman Michael Defensor, a Cabinet member during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, no fan of Romualdez.
Guteza must face state prosecutors or the National Bureau of Investigation to assess his testimony for possible criminal indictments against those he implicated. But he was a no-show at the NBI last week, and has made himself scarce.
Both Escudero and Romualdez are casualties of the flood control mess. Before their fall from their leadership posts in Congress, the two had already been pointing fingers at each other’s chambers in the scandal over the ‘most corrupt budget ever,’ the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Escudero, in his fighting speech last Monday, sounded petulant in the theme of his message: why single out senators? Why only me?
He’s not alone though in wondering aloud why Romualdez has not been questioned, at least in connection with the mangling of the national budget during the 19th Congress.
The House speaker at the time can’t pin the blame for this mainly on Co, the chairman of the committee on appropriations, who has been conveniently missing in action since the start of the 20th Congress.
Rubbing salt into Escudero’s wound must have been Lacson’s disclosure over the weekend that ‘almost all’ senators in the 19th Congress had budget insertions totaling over P100 billion in the 2025 GAA.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III had to undertake some damage control within the chamber, pointing out that such insertions are part of the normal budget process and are not all tainted with corruption.
Lacson, who has been likened to a suicide bomber in his anti-corruption crusade, agreed with his former running mate Tito Sen. To further assuage those who were hit by his bato-bato sa langit statement, Lacson also clarified that the House budget insertions in the GAA were far greater, with more lawmakers involved.
And just to dispel accusations of singling out his fellow senators, Lacson announced yesterday that the Blue Ribbon committee would invite Romualdez and Co to its hearing on the flood control anomalies. Romualdez can decline; Co, now a civilian who is believed to be looking for a safe haven abroad from prosecution, can be subpoenaed if he fails to show up.
The Blue Ribbon chaired by Lacson will be one step ahead of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), which has yet to summon Romualdez.
People wanted Congress to stop its probes on the budget and flood control anomalies once the ICI started its work, since lawmakers are seen to be deeply involved in the scandal.
But now that ICI proceedings have turned out to be top secret, defying the avowed push toward transparency, accountability and all that blather, people are back to relying on Lacson and the Blue Ribbon for peeling the layers of corruption for all to see.
Deals are struck and justice is influenced or bought behind closed doors. This is not just perception; it is often the reality in our looted country. This valid concern is what ICI chair Andres Reyes Jr. can’t get in the clamor to open its proceedings to the public. Reyes seems to think he’s still working as an associate justice in the Supreme Court. The ICI executive director, Brian Hosaka, is also a former spokesman for the SC.
Incidentally, there’s a scuttlebutt that the SC has decided to stand firm on its invalidation of the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, never mind if a critical argument used in the decision is based on fake news. It’s a self-serving decision that rewrites the rules and makes it nearly impossible to impeach the impeachable including SC members.
If this turns out to be true, it could intensify perceptions of institutional damage in the judiciary, which even a former head of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines has described as ‘part of the problem’ in endemic corruption.
The ICI was created because there were doubts about the impartiality of government prosecutors under the Department of Justice, which is part of the executive branch. But now with its secrecy, the ICI is looking like a redundant body, simply duplicating the work of state prosecutors.
Already there are speculations swirling that the body is merely out to throw several expendables under the bus while protecting untouchables, among them Romualdez.
As of yesterday, the Palace position was that it would not interfere in the ICI’s decision to conduct its proceedings behind closed doors. But at the rate the ICI is going, it might soon find itself facing mass protests for its lack of transparency.
The Discaya couple faced the ICI yesterday and, according to their lawyer, gave a ‘tell-all plus plus.’
‘Wala na kaming tinatago’ – they are not hiding anything anymore, lawyer Cornelio Samaniego III told reporters, but declined to give details. ‘Tell all na kami ng lahat (We’re telling everything).’
Only the ICI is doing the hiding this time.
Let’s just wait for the next Blue Ribbon hearing.