SENATE President Franklin Drilon rejected on Wednesday the call of President Benigno Aquino III to wrap up the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee probe on Vice President Jejomar Binay quickly so that lawmakers could focus on pending bills.
“We cannot stop it by ourselves because the committee needs to vote if they have enough evidence,” Drilon said.
“Every senator has a right to scrutinize any issue before the committee. Here, the committee is saying that there are other buildings that they need to look into. That is within the rights and powers of the committee,” Drilon added.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman of the subcommittee, said Aquino should keep his hands off the Senate investigation against Binay because it would set a dangerous precedent and be seen as interference with a co-equal branch of government.
He said Aquino should ask the Justice Department instead to hasten its probe.
President Aquino said while on an official mission to Beijing that he wished the Senate investigation on Binay would conclude soon so legislators could focus on pressing issues.
The President said that while he respects the Senate as a co-equal branch of government, legislators also have obligations to the people, aside from conducting such investigations.
The President noted that a number of bills are pending before the Congress, among them the fiscal rationalization bill, the military pension system, the Build-Operate-Transfer Law, the supplemental budget, and the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
He said he wished that Congress would focus on these legislative matters, considering that he has fewer than 600 days in office before he steps down in 2016.
Binay is being investigated by the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee for allegedly benefiting from the overpriced construction of the Makati City Hall Building II.
Pimentel said his subcommittee, which has held 11 hearings so far, had met many obstacles that kept it from completing its work.
“We have also encountered unfriendly and uncooperative behavior from those being investigated. These are the people causing the perceived delay. Makati officials have boycotted the hearings. Imagine LGU officials defying the Senate? Should we allow this to happen at all, much more continue?” he said. (C/O Manila Standard Today)