ROXAS: SENATE FACES DAY OF RECKONING: "ARE WE STRONG ENOUGH TO INVESTIGATE OUR OWN?"

Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas said tomorrow's probe of the double insertions in the 2008 budget will be a test of the Senate's mettle in putting the people's interests above all else.

"Monday is a day of reckoning, the moment of truth for the Senate. Are we strong enough to investigate ourselves?" he said.

"Masusubok natin kung talagang seryoso ang Senado o hindi sa pagpapakitang wala itong sinasanto ke anuman ang posisyon sa gobyerno. Kung Presidente nga e di naming inuurungan, ang Senate President pa?" he added.

Roxas noted that the people will be observing the impartiality of each senator. "'Yan ang binabantayan ng taumbayan dito sa kaso ng double-insertion. Kung ang mga senador ay kayang imbestigahan ang kasama nila sa isang kontrobersyal na isyu," he said.

"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. We will lose all credibility and the public will denounce us if we are not willing to come clean before them," he added.

He stressed that there should be no double standard, and that the Senate should go over the facts of this issue as it has done over past issues involving corruption in the administration.

"We investigated GMA in the fertilizer scam, the NBN-ZTE scandal and many other controversies. The public sympathized with us when GMA used executive privilege to block us. Nakiisa ang taumbayan sa Senado sa isyu ng executive privilege.

"We have to show the same tenacity in probing ourselves as we did with GMA. 'Pag hindi, ano pang mukha ang ipapakita natin? Ang lalabas, 'pag may anomalya sa gobyerno, ang sipag ng Senado na mag-imbestiga. Pero 'pag senador ang sabit, tiklop agad ang isyu," he said.

"A Senate probe of this double insertion will make us stronger, not weaker. It will prove that we are fair to all and not capricious.

"I challenge the Senate leadership to allow the investigation to proceed. Senate President Villar, don't block the probe," he said.

"This is not about us senators, this is about the people. Hindi ito pulitika, trabaho lang ito. Kahit sinong senador ito, dapat imbestigahan namin para malaman ang katotohanan. Sa huli, para ito sa katatagan ng institusyon," he added.