‘Senate probes must yield results’

MANILA, Philippines — UniTeam senatorial candidate Harry Roque said senators should see to it that issues referred to them for investigation and action should not be left unresolved.

Roque, a former party-list representative, said Senate investigations should always have an output, either in proposed legislation or at least recommendation to file criminal charges with the ombudsman.

Roque slammed the Senate investigation on the multibillion-dollar deal with the infamous Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. for “not resulting in anything meaningful.”

“The thing I don’t like is what happened with Pharmally, that there was no committee report because it did not get the majority of signatures from the senators,” he said.

According to Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Sen. Richard Gordon, only eight senators signed the committee report on the Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. controversy.

Roque also said the next Senate should strictly exercise its monitoring powers to guarantee that public funds are utilized correctly for the people.