Drilon to Binay camp: Who’s wasting taxpayers’ money?

MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Franklin Drilon believes that the Senate should not be faulted for conducting 20 hearings on corruption allegations against Vice President Jejomar Binay, which the opposition had scored as a waste of public funds.

Drilon said in an interview with BusinessMirror, Pilipino Mirror, and Philippine Graphic on Friday, May 29, that the ones to blame for the length of the Senate investigation are the resource persons who had continually refused to appear at the hearings despite being issued subpoenas.

He was responding to the criticism of United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) interim secretary general JV Bautista, that the Senate President had allowed taxpayers’ money to be wasted on a prolonged Senate probe that has yet to produce solid proof of the Vice President’s alleged corrupt activities.

“You know, if there was only cooperation from the witnesses, it would not reach 20 hearings. If they only appeared before the Senate and explained their side, it would have only reached 5 hearings, and that would have been it,” Drilon said.

He added, “Indeed, the refusal to confront these information that came before the Senate, we have no choice but to keep on and dig in.”

Drilon said that the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee that conducted the probe was even compelled to issue subpoenas and cite the concerned personalities in contempt.

“If we stop the hearings and we will just let them ignore the Senate processes, we cannot do our work anymore because we will be ignored, even if we subpoena,” Drilon said.

He explained that the subpoena is “a process of compulsion to enable the Senate or Congress to get the necessary information which we need for legislation.”

“If we are ignored, then we cannot work on the laws or policies,” the senator said.