Allegations won’t do: Lacson wants Pacquiao to show proof of corruption in gov’t

Unless backed by documents or at least witnesses’ statements, Sen. Manny Pacquiao’s initial salvo against corruption may fall flat on its face, Sen. Panfilo Lacson indicated Sunday.

Lacson said this a day after Pacquiao held a virtual press conference claiming irregularities in the Departments of Social Welfare and Development, Health, Energy, and Environment and Natural Resources.

“Without details backed by documents or at least sworn statements executed by his witnesses, if any, there may not be sufficient basis for the Senate to conduct a hearing although the Blue Ribbon Committee is allowed to conduct investigation in aid of legislation even without referral,” Lacson said in a statement.

“It now behooves the (Blue Ribbon panel) Chairman to make the call on the issue at hand,” he added.

On Saturday, Pacquiao held a virtual press conference to expose corruption in government agencies. Pacquiao earlier accepted President Rodrigo Duterte’s challenge to cite instances of corruption in the government.

Among the claims made by Pacquiao are:

* P10.4 billion worth of Social Amelioration Program funding did not reach the intended beneficiaries, with the initial disbursement of P1.4 billion sent through the Starpay e-wallet app.
* DOH was buying medicines that are nearing expiration dates
* DOE gave a private company the power to be an independent electricity stock market operator

Pacquiao had met with Lacson and Senate President Vicente Sotto III Thursday on the matter. Lacson and Sotto advised Pacquiao to make sure his exposes are backed by solid evidence.

Lacson said Pacquiao now has the burden of showing “some specifics in support of his allegations, which by its nature are serious, not to mention sensitive.”

“It can better serve the purpose of the expose if relevant documents that he said he has would be submitted to the Senate President or the Blue Ribbon Committee, so we can assess what next move to take on the issues that he presented in yesterday’s virtual press conference,” he added.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)