By Raymond Africa

Copyright malaya

Senator Panfilo Lacson said on Friday senators linked to the flood control mess are “not yet cleared,” despite their confrontation with accusers during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on Thursday.

“By any measure, senators Villanueva and Estrada have not been cleared, at least on the issue of budget insertions involving infrastructure projects in Bulacan worth P600M and P355M respectively, as alleged by Brice Hernandez,” Lacson posted on X.

Dismissed Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan first district engineer Hernandez alleged during the House Infrastructure Committee hearing on Sept. 9 that he gave kickbacks to a bagman of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who supposedly got a 30 percent commission from P355 million worth of flood control projects contracts this year.

Sen. Joel Villanueva was also named by Hernandez as the supposed recipient of a 30 percent commission from flood control projects worth P600 million in 2023.

Estrada and Villanueva has denied the allegations.

During Thursday’s hearing at the Senate, Hernandez told senators that the P600 million allocation was lumped under the unprogrammed funds of the 2023 national budget.

Hernandez made the statement after Villanueva confronted him with a copy of the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA) and said that the P600 million was nowhere to be found in the DPWH’s budget for that year.

Lacson confirmed Hernandez’s statement, saying that the information can be found in the documents presented by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, the incumbent chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, during the hearing.

“There are seven to eight items worth P75 million each, exactly P600 million,” Lacson said.

On the other hand, Lacson said his office has found a P355 million insertion in the 2025 GAA for infrastructure projects in Bulacan, which Hernandez linked to Estrada whom he accused of allegedly collecting a 30 percent commission from such projects.

Estrada has denied the allegation.

In another post on X, Lacson said he allowed Estrada and Villanueva to take part in the committee hearing to confront their accuser.

“It is a person’s basic right to confront his accuser. In case you didn’t notice, I did not clear the two senators on the issue of budget insertions because the budget books validate Brice Hernandez’ allegations based on my own staff’s research, at least in the case of Sen. Estrada,” he said.

“Every person, ordinary or senator, has equal rights. I actually consulted my legal staff before making that decision to allow them. On the other hand, the two senators have not been cleared of the budget insertions under the 2023 and 2025 GAA. I made that very clear today,” Lacson added.