Tag: Grace Poe

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Blue Ribbon Committee Hearing on Flood Control Projects (Nov. 14, 2025)

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson’s Opening Statement at the Hearing:

Before we proceed to the substantive discussions, the Committee will deal first with some administrative matters for the record:

All members of the House of Representatives implicated by the Discaya spouses, as well as Cong. Martin Romualdez and Cong. Eric Yap cited by Mr. Orly Guteza, were invited to attend this hearing. Incumbent Congressmen were invited through a letter dated 12 November 2025 to Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy of the House of Representatives.

According to Speaker Dy, the members will not be appearing before the Committee today in order to avoid any possible prejudice to the ongoing investigation and eventual findings of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), given that the invited members have already submitted themselves to its jurisdiction and proceedings.

Mr. Zaldy Co was similarly invited to appear before this Committee—however, his lawyer, Atty. Ruy Alberto Rondain, replied that Mr. Co is unable to attend, citing that he is still overseas due to medical reasons.

Continue reading “Blue Ribbon Committee Hearing on Flood Control Projects (Nov. 14, 2025)”

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On Constitutional Concerns Regarding the Senate Hearing on ABS-CBN’s Franchise

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Speaker Cayetano may have a point since the Constitution provides that bills of local application like franchise measures must originate from the House of Representatives.

He is wrong in equating it to the Charter change issue, though, since as practiced and for expediency, we conduct committee hearings on tax and budget measures even before the House transmits its approved version of the bill to the Senate.

What can be considered blatantly violative of the Constitution is if the Senate committee chairperson reports out on the floor for plenary debates the committee report. This is something we have not done and will never do.

Having said that, what I understand to be tackled by the Public Services Committee are not the bills in connection with the ABS-CBN franchise but a filed resolution to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation on the alleged violations of ABS-CBN that is being questioned by the Office of the Solicitor General before the Supreme Court via a quo warranto petition in which I have earlier expressed reservation out of courtesy to a co-equal branch that has already given due course to the said petition.

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#PINGterview: Lifting of Taiwan Travel Ban, Lt Col Espenido Issue, VFA Abrogation

In an interview on DWIZ, Sen. Lacson answered questions on:
– lifting of travel ban on Taiwan
– issues involving P/Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido
– possible actions after VFA abrogation
– franchise of ABS-CBN

QUOTES and NOTES:
 Continue reading “#PINGterview: Lifting of Taiwan Travel Ban, Lt Col Espenido Issue, VFA Abrogation”

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Interpellation of Sen. Sotto’s Privilege Speech

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Sen. Lacson raised some points in interpellating Sen. Tito Sotto, who had delivered a privilege speech regarding alleged irregularities in the 2016 elections.

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#PingSays: Implementation is key to solving congestion problems at NAIA

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At the Senate hearing on decongesting transport facilities including the NAIA, Sen. Lacson stressed that implementation is key to addressing overcrowding woes.
“Obviously, we all know the problem. Apparently, we also know the solution. So no matter how many meetings, how many public hearings, how many presentations we have, ang solusyon lang talaga is implementation, ‘di ba? But ang tanong, why are we not doing it? … Overload na tayong lahat ng statistics (and) information (at) alam nating lahat, pero what are we doing about it?“