Handwritten notes from a deceased public works official have placed Sen. Rodante Marcoleta at the center of a new thread in the Senate’s ongoing flood control investigation, with Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson disclosing that records attributed to the late DPWH Undersecretary Catalina Cabral indicate P500 million in infrastructure projects were allocated at the opposition senator’s request.
Lacson, who chairs the Blue Ribbon committee, said the allocations were made through the “allocables” system — a practice he described as improper for legislators, though not inherently illegal on its own. The handwritten notes, he acknowledged, have not yet been turned over to the Office of the Ombudsman.
“There was a handwritten note from (the late undersecretary) Cabral allowing allocation based on request for allocable. There was allocation of P500-million projects for Senator Marcoleta,” Lacson said in Filipino at the “Kapihan sa Senado” forum.
He added that the original amount allegedly sought was considerably higher. “Actually, P1.5 billion was allegedly being requested, but only P500 million was granted,” Lacson recounted.
The senator said he first received word of the alleged arrangement — referred to as “bukulan” — from several congressmen during a Commission on Appointments hearing on the confirmation of then DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan. Marcoleta chaired the CA’s public works committee at the time.
When asked whether Marcoleta would be drawn into a formal investigation, Lacson said he was not recommending one at this time — but drew a clear line at project quality. “If there are ghost or substandard projects attributed to him,” he said, that would push the matter into criminal territory.
Beyond the Marcoleta angle, Lacson said the committee intends to broaden its scope, scrutinizing letters of request for allocables submitted by various lawmakers to the DPWH, as well as flood control projects in the Visayas and Mindanao to gauge how far the alleged corruption extends.
On the question of who is ultimately behind the scandal, Lacson pushed back against the idea of a single orchestrator. Based on evidence gathered so far, he said the corruption appears to be driven by distinct regional networks embedded within specific district engineering offices.
“I don’t think there’s an overall mastermind kasi nga driven by greed. Parasitic eh. Parang walang tigil,” Lacson said. “There’s an organized group within a certain agency, certain district engineering office like in Bulacan,” he added, noting that even the DPWH secretary does not have the kind of reach that would allow centralized command over all regional directors.
Lacson also reiterated that Senators Francis Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada, and Joel Villanueva — all named in his draft partial committee report for possible preliminary investigation on plunder, graft, and related charges — retain the opportunity to present their defense before the panel.
He clarified Wednesday that the recommendations in the draft report are not final. “Of course, of course. If they had signed (the committee report), that’s their platform to defend themselves. During interpellation, they can say ‘that’s not true’ so we can strike it off the record of the committee report or the partial committee report,” he said.
