(ABANTE) Pinaiimbestigahan ng mga senador sa Senate Committee on Ethics kung nakarating sa media ang detalye mula sa executive session at kung sino ang responsable sa likod nito.
Ito’y matapos pumalag si Senador Jinggoy Estrada sa plenaryo ang lumabas na artikulo sa Politiko.com, sister company ng ABANTE, ang tungkol sa siyam na senador na sumporta diumano sa pagbabaik ng P625-milyong confidential funds ng tanggapan ng Office of the Vice President (OVP) at Department of Educationb (DepEd).
Nabanggit sa artikulo sina Sens. Robin Padilla, Christopher “Bong” Go, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, Estrada, Manuel “Lito” Lapid, Francis Tolentino, Cynthia Villar at Pia Cayetano na sumusuporta umano sa pagbabalik ng confidential fund ni Vice President Sara Duterte.
Isinagawa ang all-senator’s caucus noong Lunes, Nobyembre 6 sa pagpapatuloy ng session ng Senado.
“Just before we entered this chamber, much to my dismay, and much to our dismay, there was a news report that identified eight or nine senators…who wanted to restore the confidential and intelligence fund (CIF) of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education,” pahayag ni Estrada.
“And I wish to tell the people of the Philippines that there was no votation that happened yesterday with regard to the intelligence fund of the Vice President and DepEd. In fact, we had an executive session and I do not know who among our colleagues who scooped or leaked our conversation with this media outlet,” punto niya.
“I have been a senator here for more than 10 years. And this is the first time that I encountered a leakage. I do not know, I do not want to name names. This is a violation of our rules,” sambit pa ng senador.
Sabi pa ni Estrada, dapat ipatawag ng Senado ang media outlet and ibunyag sa kanila kung sino ang lumabag sa kanilang rules at nag-leak ng impormasyon sa kung ano ang nangyari sa executive session.
Dismayado din si Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri na nagkaroon ng leakage kung ano ang nangyari sa kanilang executive session. Iginiit niyang walang nangyaring botohan subalit nagkaroon ng “health discussion” sa panukalang P5.267 trilyong national budget [ara sa 2024, partikular sa isyu ng CIF.
“It’s not fair to say that one group is for this and one group is for that because in the end, we were unanimous in the committee report that the good gentleman from Aurora will be presenting today,” sabi ni Zubiri, patungkol kay Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, chairman ng Senate finance committee na nag-sponsor ng committee report ng panukalang pambansang budget.
Iginiit naman ni Senador Francis Escudero na “The facts contained in the article, Mr. President is not a leak, ‘chismis yon’, so there is no leak to speak of really to what truly transpired in the executive session.”
Sinabi naman ni Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva na nasa ilalim ng Section 129 ng Senate Rules, sinumang senador na lumabag ay maaring ma-expel sa Senado sa 2/3 votes ng lahat ng mga senador.
Ayon naman kay Senador Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, dapat managot ang responsable sa pag-leak ng impormasyon.
“Dapat we have to made ito account yung tao na responsible dito…hindi lang na magserve ng stern warning sa kanila,” sabi ni Dela Rosa.
“The damage has been done. Nasira na kung sinong dapat masira, but I don’t care kung masira ang reputasyon ko. Ang sa akin lang, ma-preserve yung ating reputasyon as a Senate, 24 lang tayo dito,” saad pa ng senador. (Dindo Matining)