‘Leaked’ Blue Ribbon report hit

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February 5, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines —   Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson yesterday criticized the leakage of a “draft and unofficial” report of the Blue Ribbon committee on the flood control investigation, even as he confirmed the names of lawmakers recommended to be charged for corruption.

The partial unofficial report recommended filing plunder, malversation and other criminal charges against Senators Francis Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva; former senator Ramon Revilla Jr., who is already detained for malversation; fugitive former lawmaker Zaldy Co; former public works secretary Manuel Bonoan; former Caloocan lawmaker Mitch Cajayon-Uy; former education undersecretary Trygve Olaivar; Escudero’s alleged bagman, tech entrepreneur Maynard Ngu, and members of the alleged Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) syndicate.

Lacson said it was natural for the anti-graft panel to recommend charges against the lawmakers after former DPWH engineers accused them during the Blue Ribbon hearings of receiving kickbacks from flood control projects.

Authorities are already investigating the same names, he noted.

Lacson said the “draft and unofficial report” still does not have enough signatures from the 20 members of the Blue Ribbon, including the three ex-officio members. It needs 11 majority signatures before it can be reported to the plenary for approval.

Further doubt was cast on the veracity of the document after three senators – Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Sherwin Gatchalian and JV Ejercito – withdrew their signatures, saying they needed more time to read through it.

Lacson said he respected their decision to withdraw their signatures, acknowledging that this brings down the number of signatures to only three.

“I respect the opinions of my colleagues in this regard. So, if I’m not able to gather or secure 11 signatures, then there will be no committee report,” he explained.

Lacson also defended the noticeable absence of former speaker Martin Romualdez from the partial report despite the testimony of former Marine Orly Guteza, who attended one hearing to implicate Romualdez and Co in flood control kickbacks but never reappeared.

He said Romualdez will fall under a different category from the other lawmakers named who were implicated based on “corroborative evidence.”

Lacson admitted that the soon-to-be-released report on flood control corruption could cost the Senate presidency of Vicente Sotto III.

“But SP (Sotto) is all behind the Blue Ribbon,” he said.

On Tuesday night, Sotto slammed the leakage of the draft report allegedly by a media relations officer of a senator.

“It’s not an official report. The one who leaked it was too eager. Embarrassing,” Sotto said.

Testimony

Meanwhile, Oriental Mindoro Gov. Humerlito Dolor has testified on the alleged use of substandard materials in the P289.5-million road dike flood control project in Naujan town, awarded to Sunwest Inc., a construction firm supposedly co-owned by wanted fugitive Zaldy Co.

At the continuation of the bail hearing of nine former officials of DPWH Region IV-B, who are co-accused of Co before the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division yesterday, Dolor said his office conducted multiple inspections of the subject road dike project along the Mag-Asawang Tubig River from August to September 2025.

Dolor said that based on the site inspections he personally supervised, the installed steel sheet piles for the project only measured around three meters, way below the 12-meter specification stated in the Detailed Engineering Design of the contract.

In an interview with reporters after the hearing, Dolor admitted that it was somehow “painful” for him to take the witness stand as one of the accused in the case is his friend.

“I just know the truth… What really pains me in testifying is knowing that my friend is among the accused. But as I have said, your loyalty to your friend ends when your care for your country begins,” Dolor said. – Elizabeth Marcelo