OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATE BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN
SENATOR FRANCIS 'TOL' N. TOLENTINO
17 August 2022

The purpose of the Blue Ribbon is to fulfill our constitutional mandate, as well as to fulfill our job to exercise these powers in aid of legislation--and that we will do.

We will do whatever is right, but I appeal to the members of this committee to be forthright in joining me to have a Blue Ribbon roadmap. The Blue Ribbon roadmap would entail that we will have for purposes of hearings a known duration and a defined direction.

We will not evolve into a political circus. We will not go into unending hearings. We will respect the rights of the witnesses. We will respect the rights of the resource persons. Bearing in mind again that we have a constitutional duty to fulfill and that is to prevent abuses, to pass the proper remedial legislation but with a known standard of proof.

We are not going for "guilt beyond reasonable doubt" standard--that is the job of the prosecutors as well as the courts.

Our job is to satisfy ourselves to have an inner conviction--that moral certitude--that a person appearing before this committee has committed a wrongdoing which would necessitate the filing the appropriate charges before competent authorities, notably the Ombudsman and the next stage would probably be the Sandiganbayan.

We will not be here to witch hunt, (or) to have a fishing expedition. We will be here in the succeeding hearings to gather and uncover the truth. Kahit sino po ang masaktan, we will do what is right.

And to quote my favorite constitutionalist: "Our government, the people are the only legitimate fountain of power."

Bearing that in mind, the Blue Ribbon Committee will exercise its legitimate power. Further, it has been said that no matter what laws we pass, no matter how effective the implementation or execution of the laws maybe, we should accept the reality and I quote James Madison that: "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary."

But sad to say and to state all over again, our government, the future government, the past government, and "all governments here on earth are administered by men over men"--and the great difficulty lies in abuses.

That is what we intend to do--protect the legitimate source of power, the people, the fountain of power. And that is what this committee would try to achieve.