Sotto eyes meet with Martin on Blue Ribbon probe

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III is planning to meet with former speaker Martin Romualdez about the plan to invite him to the next Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the flood control mess.

Sotto divulged his plan for an inter-chamber meeting after he led the Department of Health’s turnover of a mobile clinic for Senate employees yesterday.

The Senate President said the meeting with Romualdez remains a “sketchy” plan, amid witness Orly Guteza’s allegations during a previous Blue Ribbon hearing that Romualdez and resigned Ako Bicol party-list congressman Zaldy Co are recipients of millions of alleged kickbacks from ghost or substandard flood control projects.

The meeting could be held to try to convince Romualdez to attend the next probe, instead of coursing the invite through Speaker Bojie Dy.

“It is just a plan. Nothing formal about it yet. We just have common friends saying we should meet up to discuss a possible invite for Romualdez, either given directly to him or coursed through Speaker Dy,” Sotto said.

Sotto denied the meeting was a way to cover up Romualdez’s alleged role in the corruption scandal, calling it instead a part of “inter-parliamentary courtesy.”