MANILA, Philippines — Former Surigao del Norte representative Robert Ace Barbers called on the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate the June 4, 2026 hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, led by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, as he believed it was a "destabilization plot" against the government.
Barbers was among those named by the 18 former Marine personnel who were employed by resigned Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Elizaldy Co as among those who received "suitcases" of money from the flood control scandal.
In a statement on Saturday, Barbers asked if it was already "legal to plot destabilization moves in broad daylight using government resources, in the guise of holding a legitimate Senate hearing?”
“The Senate majority of 12 can declare all seats vacant. There is no debate about it. Even the deposed ex-Senate president admitted as much in his press conference immediately after the bogus meeting," Barbers added.
Barbers even noted that in his presscon, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano conceded that a majority of 12 could declare all positions vacant except the positions of Senate President and the Senate President Pro Tempore.
"Therefore, the Blue Ribbon Committee chairmanship has been validly and legitimately transferred to Senator Erwin Tulfo on June 3, making the June 4 gathering unauthorized at the very least,” Barbers said.
He said that the meeting on June 4 in the guise of a Blue Ribbon hearing was an "illegal assembly and the leaders are senators."
"If the assembly is illegal and aimed at attacking the government and other people, done inside a government owned infrastructure and used government funds, this becomes an affront and challenge to the legitimate government. Is this not a ground for the filing at the very least, of graft charges against the leaders and participants of this illegal, seditious, and rebellious assembly," Barbers said.
The former House dangerous drugs committee chairman and presiding chairman of the House quad committee called on the Ombudsman and the National Bureau of Investigation to "investigate the matter with dispatch, prevent a repeat of the same, and immediately file the corresponding cases as warranted."
