MANILA, Philippines -- Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Sen. Pia Cayetano longed for some concern from the minority bloc during the May 13 shooting incident at the Senate and yet the majority group, where she belonged had tried to link them to the episode.
This was Lacson's response to Cayetano's lament that none of her colleagues checked on her and fellow majority bloc members during the incident.
"How can anyone check on the members of the majority bloc when they - or some of them - were busy trying to link the minority bloc to a shooting incident inside the Senate building last May 13," Lacson said on Thursday.
He was referring to Cayetano's emotional response to Sen. Risa Hontiveros' call for the Senate leadership to investigate the incident.
Lacson said Hontiveros urged the Senate leadership to "act quickly and appropriately" to probe the chaotic situation that led to last week’s shooting incident and not act as if nothing happened.
Cayetano took offense and accused the now-minority bloc for "trivializing the incident."
Lacson last week rejected the unfair and malicious insinuations by some majority bloc members - including Cayetano's brother Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and Sen. Imee Marcos - that the minority bloc members left the Senate early on the day of the shooting, because they knew something would happen.
At the time, Lacson said the minority members, including himself, left early because the session ended early and a planned all-senators' caucus had been converted into a majority caucus.
"It is an unfair and malicious insinuation that we in the minority bloc went home early and left them behind because we knew something would happen. That is quite far from the truth. There is no basis for that because no one knew what would happen that night," Lacson said in a recent radio interview.
Relieved
Lacson also said he felt relieved that he would no longer lead the Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) even as he reiterated he would not ease up in his efforts to fight corruption.
The BRC chairmanship is normally given to a member of the majority bloc. Lacson now belongs to the minority group following the a Senate leadership on May 11.
The BRC or Senate Committee on Acountability of Public Officers and Investigations tasked to probe anomalies and wrongdoings in government in aid of legislation.
Pia Cayetano succeeded Lacson as BRC chairman. She already held the same post in the 19th Congress.
"Double relief. I feel relieved that I am now relieved of my duties as the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman," Lacson wrote on X on Thursday.
Lacson led the investigation on the reported flood control fund scandal wherein some former and incumbent legislators and personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways allegedly took "kickbacks" from flood control fund budget.
Lacson said that all chairmen of the Senate committees were elected by their peers and thus served at the pleasure of their colleagues.
He said that under his chairmanship, the BRC has contributed to the case buildup efforts against some personalities linked to the flood control mess.
But he also said that vacating the BRC chairmanship would not diminish his long-standing fight against corruption and other forms of wrongdoing.
“I will continue to fight a corrupt and rotten system in the misuse and abuse of public funds as I have consistently done in the course of my long years in public service,” Lacson said in a separate statement.