Panfilo “Ping” Lacson. INQUIRER file picture
Former Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Friday expressed remorse over the testy trade between Senators Nancy Binay and Alan Peter Cayetano in the course of the public listening to on the brand new Senate constructing challenge in Taguig Metropolis.
Though Senate President Francis Escudero’s choice to overview the challenge was “an accurate name,” Lacson stated the verbal tussle involving the 2 senators throughout Wednesday’s listening to of the Senate committee on accounts was “painful to look at, to say the least.”
Lacson chaired the Senate accounts committee that permitted the challenge in 2017.
Binay took over the supervision of the challenge in 2022 earlier than she was changed by Cayetano after the Escudero-led coup ushered in a brand new Senate management on Might 20.
READ: Heated debate, walkout mar inquiry into new Senate constructing
“Whereas a century-old dream for the Philippine Senate to lastly have its own residence, one that’s iconic, safe, purposeful, and inexperienced, is about to come back to fruition, it’s unhappy that it’s now perceived, rightly or wrongly, as one other image of presidency abuse of public funds,” Lacson stated in an announcement.
In accordance with him, Escudero met with him and former Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III a couple of days after he was sworn in as the brand new Senate chief.
Escudero, he stated, knowledgeable them that he needed to look into the the explanation why the price of the construction being inbuilt Taguig Metropolis allegedly ballooned to P23.3 billion from the unique price range of P8.9 billion.
READ: Separate panel probe into value of latest Senate constructing sought
Lacson stated he then tried to fulfill with Cayetano and Binay to make sure a “easy transition and switch of accountability” like what he did when Binay succeeded him.
He stated he additionally needed to debate with the pair “some doable points” concerning the challenge.
“My provide to mediate was truly a request from [Binay] after she visited me in my workplace with my two former employees who now work in her workplace. [Cayetano] truly agreed to each though the assembly has but to be scheduled,” Lacson stated.
“(W)hile it was in the end his choice to retain or terminate the Senate Coordination Crew, it could be higher in the event that they briefed him first and get a lowdown on the standing and different particulars of the continued development,” he added.
The heated trade between Binay and Cayetano, who presided over the listening to, erupted after she tried to ask officers of the Division of Public Works and Highways about Escudero’s declare that the constructing’s price ticket had gone as much as P23.3 billion.
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Cayetano instantly confronted Binay, accusing her of “going round saying my numbers are incorrect.”
