The Gordon-Cayetano spats

Frustrated.

That’s how former Senate Blue Ribbon Chairman Senator Alan Peter Cayetano feels about how the incumbent chair, Senator Richard Gordon, is concluding the investigations Senator Alan had initiated.
 
So far, 12 hearings have been conducted during the tenure of Senator Alan on the NBN-ZTE issue.
 
After each hearing, Senator Alan and the Senate Blue Ribbon secretariat lawyers would come out with their reports and conclusions which they are synchronizing along the way to progress to a very thorough committee report.
 
Enter Senator Dick Gordon who, because of the Senate reorganization, assumed the chairmanship of the Blue Ribbon.
 
Senate reporters then asked, “Who will do the ZTE-NBN committee report, Senator Alan Peter who was at the helm of all the investigations or the new chair, Senator Gordon?”
 
Senator Alan insists that Speaker Jose de Venecia should be heard in another Senate inquiry. That is why he hasn’t concluded the ZTE-NBN report.
 
Senator Gordon challenged the former chair. “If he doesn’t want to do his work, I’ll do it.”
 
In fairness to Senator Gordon though, he has instructed the Blue Ribbon Secretariat staff to review the testimony of Speaker Joe de Venecia at the House hearings which might have consequences to the Senate investigation results.
 
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile appealed to both Senators Alan and Dick to reconcile their differences.

Enrile thinks that Senator Alan Peter should do the report because of his major involvement in the inquiry as then committee chair. But the Senate President suggested that the two should sit down and work together.
 
The Senate President also instructed the Senate Legal Counsel and other members of the Senate Secretariat to pitch in to put closure to the issue.
 
Then comes the fertilizer scam.
 
Senator Gordon takes over the inquiry and to the surprise of Senator Alan, finalizes his conclusions into a committee report.
 
Senator Alan is crying foul because what had been accounted for actually is only Php208 million of the alleged Php728 million. What happened to the rest of the money? Did it in fact get diverted for the 2004 campaign of Jocjoc’s Boss?
 
The total fertilizer fund scam actually involved Php2.8 billion? Not just Php728 million?
 
Senator Alan would have wanted to invite more mayors to testify, more officials from the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Offices who were, according to Bolante, recipients of the fertilizer fund.
 
Senator Alan wanted to probe more on why non-agricultural towns whose local officials were allies of the administration received a share of the fertilizer funds.
 
But no!
 
Senator Gordon’s way was that he believed that the Senate inquiries on the fertilizer scam had already drawn out major information enough to draw conclusions.
 
Senator Alan described the Gordon committee report as “half-baked” because it did not indict President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the anomalies, but merely focused on individuals with lower ranks and those with less participation.
 
In response, Senator Gordon said he welcomed the Senate minority plan, which included Senator Alan, to come out with its own fertilizer scam committee report. But while Senator Dick welcomed the minority’s plan as a positive signal that both majority and minority Senators are fighting corruption, he believes that the minority report would hold no merit because it was his report which had the signature of most of the members of the Chamber.
 
Some in the Senate grapevine assess that the two hardworking Senators have different styles. While Senator Alan prefers to tackle his work as if using a fine-toothed comb, Senator Gordon, on the other hand, is satisfied with his discovery of the modus operandi and its perpetrators.
 
Still, loudly whispered is “Whose actions seems to be protecting who?”


“Let’s admit it. Politics is addition. If they (Malacañang) believe I’m worthy of their endorsement, I will accept it,” Senator Gordon revealed to the media.

Too bad, Malacañang is silent on Senator Gordon seeking President Macapagal-Arroyo’s anointment or the endorsement of his political plans.

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