Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chair Panfilo Lacson said Wednesday that the next phase of the panel’s flood control inquiry will focus on whether lawmakers who received project allocations from the Department of Public Works and Highways had ghost or substandard work carried out under their names.
Lacson confirmed that the committee had received information linking the late DPWH Undersecretary Catalina Cabral to a handwritten document indicating that some P500 million in projects had been allocated to Sen. Rodante Marcoleta. He was quick to draw a legal distinction, however, noting that receiving an allocation is not in itself a criminal act.
“Actually meron pa, oo. Kasi sabi ko nga, yung request for allocables although sa tingin ko, hindi proper pero hindi naman illegal kasi dati naman pinapractice… Pero yung binigyan ka ng items tapos substandard ng contractor mo, ginhost project ng contractor mo, doon may problema. So yun ang hihimay namin,” Lacson said.
The senator said the so-called allocables — project line items routed to individual legislators — exist across both chambers of Congress and amount to what he considers a rebranded form of pork barrel embedded in the national budget. The committee’s work now turns to examining submissions from lawmakers to determine whether the underlying projects were ever actually completed.
Lacson also disclosed that Cabral had reportedly signaled her willingness to cooperate with investigators before her death, but that those overtures were never acted upon in time.
The tension between Lacson and Marcoleta stretches back to the leadership shuffle in the Senate that removed Marcoleta as Blue Ribbon Committee chair and installed Lacson in his place — a change that Lacson believes Marcoleta has never accepted.
“Parang ewan ko lang ha, sa akin lang ito. Parang hindi niya matanggap na napalitan siyang Blue Ribbon,” Lacson said.
He added that Marcoleta’s conduct in Senate proceedings has grown increasingly disconnected from the facts at issue.
“Ang nagbago si Senator Marcoleta kasi nawala siya sa hulog. Hindi na siya in sync with reality. Hindi ko alam kung bakit,” Lacson said.
Lacson also recalled that Marcoleta, when he was still a congressman sitting on the Commission on Appointments during the confirmation of then-DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan, was among those who allegedly benefitted from project allocations at the expense of other legislators.
