Blue Ribbon hearings to continue despite new probe body

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee investigation on flood control corruption will continue despite President Marcos' creation of an independent commission, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said yesterday.

- By MARC CAYABYAB

"The Senate Blue Ribbon probe and the work of the independent commission are complementary. They won't compete with each other," Lacson said.

With his first hearing as new Blue Ribbon chairman set for Sept. 18, Lacson promised to have a "blindfold mentality" to the alleged involvement in flood control project kickbacks of Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada, as alleged by sacked Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) assistant district engineer Brice Hernandez.

"I have always adopted a blindfold mentality. It is not right to be partial, much less to cover up for someone, because that will disrupt the investigation," Lacson said.

"Because if you investigate, you exclude no one and you don't become selective. If you do, then what is the investigation for?" he added.

Lacson said the hearing not only would provide evidence that could be used by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), it could also result in the crafting of legislation requiring the disclosure of budget insertion proponents' names as an anti-corruption measure.

"Let me emphasize that the committee's ongoing inquiry is in aid of legislation and does not intend to target any senator or congressman, particularly Sen. Jinggoy Estrada," Lacson said of his colleagues tagged in the controversy.

DPWH 'obligation' fees

Meanwhile, Lacson yesterday exposed another moneymaking scheme in the DPWH, this time involving junior personnel who charge contractors per page of bidding documents.

The "juniors" at the District Engineering Office level impose the following fees on top of the regular commissions and "obligations" required of contractors to pay:

Technical notes like variation order -P10,000 for the documents plus P2,000 per page per request;

Planning and Design Section - at least P50,000 for soft copy, depending on region;

Materials testing report one percent of the contract cost; no receipt;