SC orders Senate Blue Ribbon to comment on petition to release flood-control report

In a resolution dated April 29, 2026 and released to the public in mid-May, the Supreme Court directed the respondents in a petition for mandamus and certiorari to file their comments within ten days. The petition, filed in March by lawyers Eldrige Marvin Aceron, Sikini Labastilla, and Purification Bartolome-Bernabe, asks the Court to compel the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to release its draft partial report on the flood-control kickback scheme. Sen. Panfilo Lacson chairs the committee. The respondents had previously invoked the deliberative process privilege to withhold the draft, arguing that releasing internal work would create a chilling effect on legislative deliberations. The same resolution denied the petitioners' request for a temporary restraining order and a status quo ante order, leaving the committee in control of the document for now. The Court noted that it has not yet given due course to the petition itself; the comment order is a preliminary procedural step. The Blue Ribbon transmitted a separate partial report to the Ombudsman on May 13, 2026; the petition at issue here covers earlier draft material the petitioners say should already be public.