Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson has yet to submit his resignation letter as chair of the Blue Ribbon committee, according to Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
‘We have not received anything, and he has not submitted a letter. But we talked last night,’ Sotto said in a press briefing on Monday.
He said Lacson would probably want to submit it personally or formally during a session in the plenary.
According to Sotto, Lacson remains the Blue Ribbon chair while he has yet to submit a letter of resignation or stand up before the plenary announcing his resignation.
‘Until I receive a letter, or he stands up on the floor and says he is resigning, he ‘plans to resign,’ that’s the accurate phrase,’ Sotto said.
‘Unless he says, ‘I’m resigning now and I’m sending the letter’, unless he does that, the blue ribbon is then vacant.’
Sotto added that apart from Lacson, he was eyeing three to four senators who could hold the Blue Ribbon chairmanship.
On Sunday, Lacson announced that he would resign as chair of the panel.
Lacson was frustrated over some senators’ comments on his leadership of the panel investigating alleged flood control anomalies, said the Senate president.
‘Senator Ping is frustrated. He is not stressed. He’s used to stress. He’s frustrated. When there are hearings, some were complaining why we’re holding hearings. If there’s no hearing, there were those questioning why we’re not conducting hearings. What shall we do?’ Sotto asked.
‘I think the way he handled the blue ribbon committee hearings was very good. So maybe he’s really frustrated. But I will support him, whatever decision he makes. I will accept whatever decision he makes, whatever that is. He has my 100 percent support,’ he added.
When asked about the sentiments of the senators, Sotto said some were asking if Lacson could be urged to stay as blue ribbon chair.
‘Everybody is entitled to his own opinion. As far as I’m concerned, as far as the majority is concerned, I’m very sure that the Senate is stable. I’ll make sure that under my leadership, everything will be transparent and accountable,’ Sotto said.
He said he understood Lacson’s frustration ‘to a certain extent.’
‘Sometimes in our hearings there were spurious.. There were things that shouldn’t be discussed within the committee but they get in the way. To a certain extent, I understand his frustration,’ he said.