Denials issued by officials, lawmakers tagged in flood mess

A wave of denials followed a former public works undersecretary's Senate Blue Ribbon testimony linking lawmakers and other officials to flood control project anomalies, with Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin declaring his “untarnished record as a long-serving public servant, first as a career judicial officer and now as the executive secretary.”

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“I deny the imputation contained in the sworn statement of (former) DPWH undersecretary (Roberto) Bernardo submitted to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee about the delivery of ‘agreed 15 percent commitment’ supposedly for the Office of the Executive Secretary (OES). The imputation is not true,” Bersamin said in a statement yesterday.

“In the first place, the OES has no involvement in any way with budgetary allocations relevant to the DPWH," he added, referring to the Department of Public Works and Highways.

According to Bersamin, his office has no dealings with either Bernardo or Education Undersecretary Trygve Olaivar, who himself has denied the allegations made by Bernardo.

Aside from Bernardo's testimony, Rep. Martin Romualdez also decried a testimony from a surprise presented by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta.