New witness surfaces in sabungeros case

Following President Marcos' order to investigate substandard flood control projects, Senate President Francis Escudero announced yesterday he would file a bill prohibiting relatives of public officials up to the fourth degree of consanguinity from becoming contractors or suppliers of the government.

- By NEIL JAYSON SERVALLOS

Citing conflict of interest concerns following corruption allegations surrounding flood control projects, Escudero said government contracts need to be rid of corruption.

"About our applause, who would not applaud? The problem has been there for long," Escudero said, referring to Marcos' much-applauded remarks in his State of the Nation Address on irregularities in flood control programs.

"In response, I'm filing a bill seeking to prohibit officials from tapping relatives up to 4th degree of consanguinity as contractors or suppliers for government projects," Escudero said in Filipino. "It's clear conflict of interest and should not be allowed."

He said some lawmakers are involved in such arrangements. "If lawyers can't practice their profession while in government, so should contractors be barred from being part of government," he said citing an example.

Escudero said he intends to have his proposal taken up as a priority measure and included in the LegislativeExecutive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) list. He said his bill is being drafted and may be filed by Tuesday next week.

Amid reports tying him to corruption related to flood control projects, Escudero maintained he had never pocketed public funds.

He also pushed back against insinuations that flood mitigation projects in a senator's home province automatically indicate personal gain.

"That is mere insinuation, part of PR job, PR campaign.

It's not right," he said.

Recent media reports raised concerns over lumpsum allocations to Bulacan and Sorsogon - the latter being Escudero's home province - as well as vague project listings with little engineering detail, repeated road segments and uniform budget figures across unrelated infrastructure items.

It suggested that the senator may have used the national budget to build political capital for his rumored Senate presidency bid in the 20th Congress.

Demolition job