Failure to probe ‘road to nowhere’ mess to mar Senate - Roxas

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Manuel Roxas II on Sunday claimed that the Senate would lose its credibility if it fails to investigate the alleged double allocation of a P200 million road project that was linked to Senate president Manuel Villar Jr. “If we refuse to investigate one of our own, the Senate will be completely castrated as the guardian of the public. Siguradong kakapunin kami ng taumbayan (The people will surely castrate us). We will lose all credibility and the public will denounce us if we are not willing to come clean before them," Roxas said in a statement. Roxas said the Senate did not buckle down from investigating cases including those involving President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, thus it should have no reason to retreat from a probe of the "road to no nowhere" anomaly. “Masusubok natin kung talagang seryoso ang Senado o hindi sa pagpapakitang wala itong sinasanto (kahit) anuman ang posisyon sa gobyerno. Kung Presidente nga eh di naming inuurungan, ang Senate President pa (We we would be able to test whether or not the Senate is serious in showing that it has no sacred cow in the government irrespective of his or her position. We did not relent on the President, why should we exempt the Senate president)?" Roxas said. “We investigated (President Arroyo) in the fertilizer scam, the NBN-ZTE scandal and many others. The public sympathized with us when (Mrs Arroyo) used executive privilege to block us," Roxas added. Roxas said the plenary debate on Monday would test the Senate’s mettle in putting the public’s interest before anything else. “Monday is a day of reckoning, the moment of truth for the Senate. Are we strong enough to investigate ourselves?" The senator also called on Villar and his other colleagues in the Senate to allow the inquiry into the road project mess to proceed. “I challenge the Senate leadership to allow the investigation to proceed. Senate President Villar, don’t block the probe." Roxas, however, clarified that there were no political motives behind his call. “This is not about us senators, this is about the people." - Sophia Dedace, GMANews.TV