Former Senate President Franklin Drilon stated on Monday that the Office of the Ombudsman is legally allowed to use the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s partial report as a basis for an independent investigation into alleged flood control anomalies.
In a television interview, Drilon clarified that there is no legal prohibition preventing the antigraft body from examining a committee report, even if it remains unsigned or unadopted by the Senate.
To support his claim, Drilon cited the Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation controversy, where an unsigned report was forwarded to the Ombudsman and successfully used to pursue criminal cases.
“Then Senator (Richard) Gordon, as chairman of the blue ribbon committee, sent the unsigned or the unadopted committee report to the Ombudsman and it became the basis for further investigation, taking the lead from where the blue ribbon committee ended its investigation and pursued,” Drilon said.
He added that evidence gathered during Senate inquiries serves as a significant resource for the Ombudsman.
“To my knowledge, there are a number of cases filed because of the findings that we had. The evidence that was gathered could be used by the Office of the Ombudsman,” he said.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, currently chaired by Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, has suspended further hearings on the flood control issue until a preliminary report is officially sponsored.
At present, the report has six signatures: Lacson, Risa Hontiveros, Kiko Pangilinan, Erwin Tulfo, Bam Aquino, and Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
It requires three more signatures to reach the nine-member threshold needed to elevate the report to the Senate plenary for deliberation.