SEN. Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday slammed fellow Sen. Rodante Marcoleta for “targeting” him and interfering with his job as chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigating anomalies in government.
The Senate president pro tempore defended the committee’s procedures from Marcoleta’s “pagbibida-bida” (know-it-all actions) on the panel’s investigation of the flood control scandal.
In a privilege speech, Lacson refuted what he called Marcoleta’s “tirades and prevarications in and out of the Senate” targeting him.
“Much as I would like to abide by what my elders had taught me, that ‘silence is the best response to nonsense,’ I am constrained to take the floor to set the record straight and correct the prevarications spewed on this very floor by one of our colleagues, namely Senator Rodante Marcoleta,” he said.
“Like on many past occasions, I could have effortlessly dismissed Senator Marcoleta’s statements, as I refuse to dignify his ego-driven provocations,” Lacson said. “But when the attacks shift from professional to obsessively personal, I must shut the whole political circus down — firmly, completely, and without ambiguity.”
Lacson maintained that Marcoleta’s release of the so-called “minority report” by the minority bloc and its contents was an affront to the Blue Ribbon Committee and to him as its chairman.
The minority report claimed that the Blue Ribbon Committee cannot compete with national prosecution services and the judiciary in disposing of the cases.
“Out of line. Out of place. So, is it any surprise that my reaction is that this report belongs to nowhere else but the trash bin?” Lacson asked.
He also dismissed Marcoleta’s complaint that he has yet to receive a copy of the draft partial committee report.
He pointed out that his office furnished an advanced copy of the report to Blue Ribbon members’ offices as early as Feb. 11.
Lacson said that his office followed up with the other senators if they wished to sign the report, even if they intended to dissent or interpellate. Yet, only Sen. Bam Aquino signed it, he noted.
“Why is he now looking for a Blue Ribbon Committee report that had been in his office for a month?” Lacson stressed.
As for Marcoleta’s dare to name 67 so-called “cong-tractors,” Lacson said he was informed about it by a congressman-friend and that he does not have such a list.
Lacson said Marcoleta may have become obsessed with him to the extent of stalking his interviews and social media updates and nitpicking every statement he uttered.
“I don’t know. Since I shut down Marcoleta on the floor, he appeared to hold a grudge against me,” he said.
