The Office of the Ombudsman now holds a body of records and witness accounts compiled by Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, who announced the handover on Tuesday as the culmination of his examination of infrastructure spending in Taguig City.
Lacson said the material points to possible plunder, malversation, and breaches of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. He placed the value of Taguig’s infrastructure projects from 2020 to 2025 at a minimum of P14.4 billion.
Detailing how he framed the transfer, the senator wrote on X: “This morning, we turned over to the Office of the Ombudsman for their further evaluation and ‘motu proprio’ investigation all the documentary and testimonial evidence, ie official records culled from government websites, while others were supplied by reliable sources, that we have gathered so far.”
The senator characterized the alleged scheme as the work of a single figure operating since 2019. “Just as we thought last year that Bulacan was the microcosm of flood control project anomalies, Taguig is something else — employing old and new tricks, like passing off an illegal reclamation project as slope protection structures with several ghost projects, cases of double appropriations, recycled photos belonging to past and already completed contracts to bill and collect for new ones — all controlled by one person, dating as far back as 2019,” he said.
The probe surfaced against the backdrop of a widening rift between Lacson and Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, whose political stronghold is Taguig. Earlier in the inquiry, Lacson said his team pinpointed three alleged bagmen and uncovered instances of double appropriations.
Cayetano, for his part, has rejected the premise of the findings, insisting that no ghost projects exist in the city. Efforts to obtain his reaction to the evidence turnover drew no reply by the time of publication.
Lacson signaled that the submission is not final, saying his office intends to forward further evidence as it is secured. “We hope the excellent research and investigative work that my staff did in this regard won’t be wasted and will contribute to the Ombudsman’s efforts to expedite their investigation,” he said.
