The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered lifestyle checks on 26 members of the House of Representatives allegedly linked to firms that carry out government-funded infrastructure projects — a probe that Senator Panfilo Lacson said Friday was long overdue.
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla directed the inquiry, with Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano confirming it was triggered by a review of the lawmakers’ Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth. The targeted legislators belong to a group critics have labeled “cong-tractors” — a portmanteau describing congressmen suspected of steering public contracts toward companies they are connected to.
Clavano said the SALNs were obtained and reviewed by the Ombudsman’s office before the lifestyle checks were ordered.
Lacson, who serves as Senate President Pro Tempore, described the development as welcome but unsurprising given longstanding concerns about self-dealing in public works spending. “If the Ombudsman has names and proof, it should investigate them because that is a clear conflict of interest. Imagine, you insert projects in the budget for projects where you are the contractor,” he said in a radio interview.
The senator used the occasion to revisit allegations he had raised in two privilege speeches last year concerning flood control projects in Bulacan. He cited testimony from former Department of Public Works and Highways officials Henry Alcantara and Roberto Bernardo, who alleged that a disproportionate share of infrastructure funding was funneled into the province.
Lacson attributed the alleged scheme to former congressman Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co, whom he accused of channeling as much as P35 billion worth of projects into Bulacan between 2022 and 2025. “There were so many ghost projects there,” Lacson said, referring to projects that reportedly received funding but were incomplete or non-existent.
He said Alcantara described being instructed to find contractors in other provinces once the volume of Bulacan projects risked drawing attention. “Alcantara said that since Bulacan was bloated with projects, he was told to look for other provinces and contact district engineers there because the pouring of funds into Bulacan would become too obvious,” Lacson said. Similar anomalies, he added, were also found in Tarlac.
Co currently faces charges in connection with a separate project in Naujan. Lacson pointed out that the alleged Bulacan irregularities remain unresolved. “Imagine, just one congressman poured in P35 billion in Bulacan. Yet the charge Co now faces is in relation to a project in Naujan. We’re not yet talking about Bulacan,” he said.
The identities of the 26 lawmakers subject to lifestyle checks have not been disclosed. Investigators are expected to determine whether the targeted officials breached anti-graft statutes.
