SEN. Panfilo Lacson said he felt relieved that he will no longer lead the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee even as he reiterated he will not ease up in his efforts to fight corruption.
The Blue Ribbon chairmanship was normally given to a member of the majority bloc. Lacson now belongs to the minority group following a change in the Senate leadership on May 11.
Lacson was succeeded by Sen. Pia Cayetano.
"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.
He led the investigation on the flood control scandal that implicated former and incumbent legislators and personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) who allegedly received kickbacks from flood control fund budget.
Lacson said that under his chairmanship, the committee has contributed to the case buildup efforts against some personalities linked to the flood control mess.
He said that quitting the Blue Ribbon chairmanship will not diminish his long-standing fight against corruption. “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,” he said.
Before his ouster from the Blue Ribbon panel, Lacson said he will verify flood control projects in the Visayas and Mindanao and letter requests from some legislators asking "allocables" for infrastructure projects.
He said the committee has sent teams in Visayas and Mindanao to find out the extent of corruption in flood control projects.
"We will zero in on allocables given due course by the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways). We'll zero in on projects that are defective and substandard," he said.
"Allocables are not illegal per se but I personally believe it's not appropriate for legislators to request projects from the implementing agency," Lacson said.
The senator said he intended to transmit to the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman the evidence the committee gathered in its investigation into the flood control fund scandal.
Lacson said that while he did not make the evidence public before his planned privilege speech because it could violate the rules of the Senate, his speech paved the way for the evidence to be used by the DOJ and Ombudsman in their case-building efforts.
