Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairperson Senator Erwin Tulfo on Friday, Aug. 7, said the panel will leave all flood control-related cases to the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB).

Earlier, Tulfo and Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian had a closed-door coordination meeting with Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla at the OMB Central Office in Quezon City.

“Pero initially, napag-usapan namin ni Ombudsman na everything that has to do with flood control, sila na maghahawak kasi ang dami na ring ongoing (Initially, the Ombudsman and I agreed that they would handle everything related to flood control because there are already many ongoing cases),” Tulfo told reporters covering the OMB.

“Tumatakbo na yung mga na-submit ng ICI sa kanila, yung mga congressmen, yung mga cong-tractors, at tsaka contractors, other government officials, mga kasamahan namin sa Senate and ranking officials, gumugulong na (The cases submitted to them by the ICI [Independent Commission for Infrastructure], involving congressmen, contractors, other government officials, some of our colleagues in the Senate, and ranking officials, are already moving forward),” he added.

He noted that Remulla had requested to handle all cases related to the flood control controversy.

The Blue Ribbon Committee, according to Tulfo, does not want to interfere with the ongoing cases as doing so could derail them.

“So, kung baka pakialaman pa namin, mapurnada pa (If we interfere, we might end up derailing it), and we don’t want to do that,” he said.

“So what he was saying, ‘Kami nang bahala,’ maybe you can start looking for, ika nga, other mga cases pag may mga dinala sa amin sa Senate (So what he was saying was, ‘We’ll take care of it,’ maybe you can start looking into other cases that are brought to the Senate),” he added.

The senator said the Blue Ribbon Committee initially had turned over some documents to the OMB, which he said contributed to the case involving former House Speaker Martin Romualdez moving forward.

“Initially, nagbigay na ng, ika nga, docs yung BRC dito sa Ombudsman. Kaya nga, ‘yun nga, gumulong na ‘yung kaso ni former Speaker at yung mga statements mula sa Blue Ribbon hearing (Initially, the Blue Ribbon Committee had already provided documents to the Ombudsman. That is why the case involving the former Speaker moved forward, based on statements from the Blue Ribbon hearing),” said Tulfo.

Asked whether all Blue Ribbon Committee documents would be turned over to the Ombudsman, he said the matter would first have to be discussed with the panel’s majority and minority members and would require their approval.

“Well, we’ll just have to turn it over. But we’ll have to, ika nga, we’ll have to meet with the entire membership para pag-usapan namin yan. Both the majority and minority members of the Blue Ribbon (Well, we’ll just have to turn it over. But we’ll have to meet with the entire membership, both the majority and minority members of the Blue Ribbon Committee, to discuss it),” he stated.

Tulfo stressed that the Blue Ribbon Committee’s role is primarily legislative and that its hearings are conducted for fact-finding in aid of legislation, not for prosecution.

“Ang problema po kasi, ang Blue Ribbon is for legislation. Hindi namin, we’re not there. We’re not investigating to prosecute or, ika nga, it’s just fact-finding for legislation (The problem is that the Blue Ribbon Committee is for legislation. We’re not there to investigate for prosecution; it’s just fact-finding for legislation),” he said.

The senator noted that the committee’s flood control hearings have already resulted in the filing of several measures in the Senate.

“Yung result po, marami na pong na-file na mga Senate bills because of that flood control hearing ng Blue Ribbon. Marami na po nagawa. Marami po, 6 yata, 6 or 7 Senate bills na ngayon (As a result, many Senate bills have already been filed because of the Blue Ribbon Committee’s flood control hearings. A lot has already been done. I think there are now six or seven Senate bills),” he said.

He said the purpose of the Blue Ribbon Committee is to identify deficiencies in existing laws and determine whether new legislation or stronger measures are needed to prevent similar corruption.

“Saan nagkulang yung batas? What do we have to do? Do we have to create another law para ma-prevent itong corruption na ito? Or do we have to tighten? (Where did the law fall short? What do we have to do? Do we have to create another law to prevent this corruption? Or do we have to tighten existing laws?),” said Tulfo.

“Yan naman po talaga ang purpose ng Blue Ribbon. Para makita po kung saan yung deficiency ng law na iyon. Para, ika nga, hindi na maulit (That is really the purpose of the Blue Ribbon Committee: to determine where the deficiencies in the law are so that this will not happen again),” he went on.