The corruption evidence piling up around Taguig’s infrastructure spending has left Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano rattled, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said Thursday, dismissing his colleague’s counterattacks as hollow.
Cayetano had gone on Facebook Live to charge that Lacson was running a politically driven smear operation, peddling falsehoods and staging a trial by publicity against him. Lacson answered on X the morning of September 3, framing that outburst as a sign of fear rather than confidence.
“PATHETIC. Imagine someone ‘quacking’ on FB live with accusations of a politically motivated demolition job, fake news and trial by publicity and at the same time ‘quaking in his boots’ every time each piece of evidence of corruption in his turf unfolds before his eyes,” Lacson wrote.
At the heart of the dispute are questioned flood control and reclamation projects in the city, which Cayetano has insisted cannot fairly be tied to him. The minority leader has rejected any suggestion of misconduct and said he intends to answer Lacson’s reports in a way that clears the air, telling the public he would “give clarity rather than confusion.”
He has also objected to being personally connected to the flood control controversy, characterizing that link as unjust given what he describes as improvements in the city, where flash flooding now affects only a handful of spots.
Lacson, for his answer, indicated the matter is already beyond the realm of social media exchanges. The material his office assembled on the Taguig projects, he said, is now in the hands of the Office of the Ombudsman for whatever action the anti-graft body deems fit.
