Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Wednesday, Sept. 10, said an internal cleansing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee is in order after a staff member linked to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada was implicated in a bribery scheme during a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
Estrada identified the person, a certain Beng Ramos, a staff of the committee.
“In the House committee hearing today (Tuesday), a Blue Ribbon staff member identified by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada as Beng Ramos was linked to a supposed delivery of obligation aka ‘lagay’ by WJ Construction that was awarded a project by then Bulacan 1st DEO Henry Alcantara,” Lacson said in a post on X.
“Since I am not sure if there is only one Beng Ramos in the Blue Ribbon Committee which I was just elected by my peers to chair, just like (Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary) Vince Dizon, maybe I also need to do a simultaneous internal cleansing while buckling down to work,” he added.
The former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief said he will immediately get to work and continue the efforts started by his predecessor, Sen. Rodante Marcoleta.
He emphasized that cleaning up the panel is crucial, given its mandate to investigate government misconduct and to check accountability.
Lacson recalled leading an internal cleansing in the PNP when he was its chief from 1999 to 2001, which he said helped restore public trust in the institution then plagued by corruption and rogue officers.
On Tuesday, former Bulacan assistant district engineer Brice Hernandez claimed during a House inquiry that Estrada received a 30-percent kickback from P355 million worth of flood control project allocations in Bulacan.
Hernandez presented photos of Estrada with former Bulacan first engineering district head Henry Alcantara, along with screenshots of a message exchange involving an alleged staffer, Beng Ramos.
Estrada vehemently denied the allegations and said he had no staff member named “Beng Ramos” since entering the Senate in 2004.
But Estrada said Ramos was a staff member of the Blue Ribbon Committee, and a former girlfriend of one of his Senate staff. (Hannah Torregoza)
