18 'ex-Marines' skip Gatchalian bloc’s Blue Ribbon hearing

MANILA, Philippines (2nd update: 10:31 a.m.) — The 18 men described as former Marines and their lawyer, Levi Baligod, did not appear Monday, June 8, as the Gatchalian bloc-led Blue Ribbon Committee opened its hearing on the flood control controversy.

The hearing, presided over by committee chair Sen. Erwin Tulfo, pushed ahead after being reset from June 4 to give committee members time to review the list of resource persons and the process for inviting them.

The panel was attended by Sens. Raffy Tulfo, Sherwin Gatchalian, Kiko Pangilinan, Tito Sotto, JV Ejercito, Risa Hontiveros and Bam Aquino. National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag, Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon, and representatives from the Office of the Ombudsman, Department of Budget and Management and Department of Public Works and Highways also attended.

Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, who was invited to the hearing, did not attend, citing parliamentary courtesy, according to House Secretary General Cheloy Garafil.

Monday's hearing was livestreamed on the Senate's social media pages, unlike the June 4 proceeding led by the Cayetano bloc.

The 18 men had appeared last week at a Cayetano bloc-led proceeding with Sens. Alan Peter and Pia Cayetano and Rodante Marcoleta, where they repeated sweeping claims about alleged cash deliveries to politicians. The bloc claimed that the June 4 proceeding was a Blue Ribbon inquiry into flood control projects.

That hearing pushed ahead despite the absence of the Senate secretary and official transcribers.

In a June 6 letter to Baligod seen by Philstar.com, Alan Peter Cayetano warned that Monday's hearing was not authorized and told the lawyer that the 18 men could not be assured of the same protections before what he described as an improperly constituted proceeding.

"It is also our duty to caution the '18 Soldiers' that we cannot assure them that any proceeding conducted outside the authority of the duly designated Chairpersons will afford the procedural safeguards and protection accorded to witnesses before properly constituted hearings," Cayetano's letter read.

The competing hearings are a spillover from the Senate leadership dispute that followed the June 3 shakeup, which installed Gatchalian as Senate president pro tempore and led the new majority to reorganize committee posts, including Tulfo's designation as Blue Ribbon chair.

Cayetano, who has rejected the shakeup as illegal, has insisted that the reorganization was invalid and that his sister, Sen. Pia Cayetano, remains the rightful chair of the panel.

Allegations

The 18 men had earlier alleged that they delivered, by land, sea and air, some P805 billion in flood control kickbacks concealed in suitcases to several officials and political figures, many of whom are critics of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, who is facing impeachment complaints over graft, malversation and death threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Some of the men's claims have since been challenged on factual and logistical grounds, with Sen. Ping Lacson citing the difficulty of transporting that much cash and estimating it would require 13,416 large suitcases.

Several named officials have also denied the allegations. Tulfo and Sotto have said they would pursue libel and cyberlibel complaints against Baligod and the 18 men after they were linked to supposed kickbacks during last week's Cayetano bloc-led hearing.

The Senate's new Blue Ribbon panel was expected to test whether the allegations would stand under the reorganized committee, or whether it would challenge the credibility and handling of the witnesses in the rival probe. Their absence on Monday instead placed the focus on who controls the probe, and whether the witnesses will submit to the Gatchalian bloc-led panel. — Camille Diola with a report from Adrian Parungao