Brice Hernandez’s Lawyer Speaks Clarifies Chiz Escudero Not One of Six Senators that May Be Linked in Flood Control Issue
SIX SENATORS – The lawyer of Brice Hernandez, Atty. Raymond Fortun, claimed that more Senate members may be linked to the flood control mess by the evidence of his client.
The Senate continued its investigation on the flood control issue in the Philippines. Currently, dismissed Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan District Engr. Brice Hernandez is under its custody. It has answered several questions in the previous Senate and House flood probe and has linked two (2) senators in the issue.
During a House of Representatives hearing on the flood control issue, Brice Hernandez accused senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva of allegedly receiving kickbacks from the flood control projects funded by the government. Both senators denied the accusation against them.
Estrada and Villanueva are two (2) of the government officials that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) recently recommended filing a case against over the flood control mess in the country now. Amid the issue, Senate President Tito Sotto previously allowed Hernandez to leave the Senate premises to look for the evidence that will support his claims on the alleged payoffs and kickbacks from the flood control projects.
Reportedly, Hernandez, secured his computer. Based on a report on Inquirer, Atty. Raymond Fortun, the legal counsel of the dismissed DPWH Engineer, claimed that “six senators” may be linked to the flood control mess by the evidence that Brice Hernandez has.
“If you were to ask me, from what I know, there are six senators,” Fortun told One News.
According to the lawyer of Brice Hernandez, two of the six senators who may linked to the flood control issue in the country now by the evidence that his client holds are former senators. Based on the report, he clarified that former Senate Pres. Chiz Escudero is unlikely to be linked to the issue.
“Someone asked me why Chiz is not included, and my answer to that is, I am almost sure, probably Chiz will not be mentioned simply because Senator Escudero has no insertion there. I am not saying that he has no insertion somewhere else,” the lawyer said in Filipino.
Based on the report, apart from saying that six senators may be linked to the flood control mess in the country now, Atty. Raymond Fortun also said that Brice Hernandez claimed that “there are more in that computer”, thus, the list can actually be longer.
During the most recent Senate investigation on flood control issues, former DPWH Bulacan District Engr. Henry Alcantara tagged former Sen. Bong Revilla in the accusation of allegedly receiving flood control kickbacks — which the former lawmaker denied.