Ang tama ay IPAGLABAN. Ang mali ay LABANAN.
Mr. President, esteemed colleagues:
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way”. This 400-year-old proverb applies to everyone, bar none.
Since getting the required majority signatures for this representation to be able to report out on the floor, your BRC’s Partial Committee Report on the flood control saga seems doomed from the time we first routed the same last February 11, 2026, I am compelled to stand before you on a matter of personal and collective privilege, and for good reasons.
Mr. President, distinguished Majority Leader, thank you for allowing me to have the floor on a matter of personal and collective privilege.
Much as I would like to abide by what my elders had taught me that “silence is the best response to nonsense,” I am constrained to take the floor to set the record straight and correct the prevarications spewed on this very floor by one of our colleagues, namely Senator Rodante Marcoleta. While in his two recent privilege speeches, he mostly referred to this representation as the “BRC Chairman,” in my manifestation today, I will refer to him by his name.
Continue reading “Privilege Speech on the Claims of Sen. Rodante Marcoleta”
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson on Monday raised questions concerning the logic and “basic mathematics” behind the claims of 18 former military men linked to a P805-billion cash delivery scheme, before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee can convene a hearing on the matter.
In a privilege speech, Lacson said this is not meant to belittle the testimonies of the 18, but to ensure that the credibility and reliability of the information sources and the information itself “adhere to rational and logical standards of believability.”
“To be clear, while every imputation of a crime warrants our attention, none deserves our blind deference. In the same manner that everyone has a right to be heard, it is not a license to mislead. Hence, while I reserve judgment on the merits of the testimonies, I am duty-bound to raise questions of logic and – at the very least – basic mathematics,” he said.
“Siguradong bibigyang-kulay na naman ng mga trolls ang mga tanong na ito. Pero isipin na lang natin: kung magagamit ang mga nasabing alegasyon bilang instrumento ng propaganda o anumang motibo, hindi ba dapat ay logical at mathematically possible man lamang ang mga akusasyon (I am sure trolls will throw shade on these questions. But we must think: if the allegations are used as instruments of propaganda, shouldn’t they at least be logical and mathematically possible)?” he added.
In Filipino: Lacson, Nagtanong sa ‘Logic and Basic Math’ ng mga Pahayag sa Cash Delivery ng 18 Ex-‘Marines’
Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, I rise today on a matter of personal and collective privilege.
As chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, I have been subject of criticisms for not scheduling the 18 ex-military personnel who faced the media in an organized press conference at the historic Club Filipino on the eve of the 40th (anniversary of the) EDSA People Power Revolution to be called and testify before your Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations.
Mr. President, esteemed colleagues, I rise today on a matter of personal and collective privilege.
BEFORE I START MR. PRESIDENT AND WITH THE INDULGENCE OF OUR DISTINGUISHED COLLEAGUES – LET ME PUT THIS ONE ISSUE AWAY FIRST. THE USEC THAT I MENTIONED TO HAVE OFFERED OUR SENATE PRESIDENT TO MAKE “INSERTIONS” IN THE 2026 NEP VEHEMENTLY DENIED IT TO HER NEW BOSS, DPWH SEC VINCE DIZON, AND TO HIS FACE AT THAT – WAS ACTUALLY LYING THROUGH HER TEETH. DAPAT ALAM NIYA NA HINDI AKO BASTA NAGSASALITA NANG WALANG KATIBAYAN.