Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson declared on Sunday that he is assembling informants and witnesses to build a case against Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, escalating a public feud that began when Cayetano questioned how sharply Lacson’s declared wealth had grown.
Framing the clash as an attack on his character, Lacson said he would not let the insinuation stand. “My integrity is my first and last line of defense and I will fight to defend it with all my might. Sen Cayetano has crossed the line by attacking it,” he wrote on X. In the same post he added, “As of this morning, I’m still counting informants and witnesses, directly or through intermediaries, willing to provide information and evidence to put him in his proper place — the Payatas, QC jail.”
The exchange traces back to a Facebook livestream on Saturday, in which Cayetano flagged what he described as a doubling of Lacson’s net worth between 2022 and 2025 — the stretch during which Lacson held no government post. Lacson rejected that characterization outright. By his own accounting, the growth was steeper than doubling: he pegged the figure at roughly four times his 2022 wealth, which he placed at P50.7 million against a 2025 net worth of about P244.9 million. Manila Times, citing his statements, reported the earlier baseline at P58.7 million, one of several points where the numbers cited around the dispute do not fully align.
Lacson attributed the gains to real estate transactions and other ventures pursued as a private citizen with two business partners, and said the earnings are documented in his income tax returns for 2023 and 2024, on which he reported paying P10.5 million and P2.8 million. “Hindi ako abusado at hindi ako corrupt na government official (I am neither abusive nor corrupt),” he said, invoking a decades-long record in law enforcement and the legislature.
He pointed to his conduct in office as further rebuttal, noting the “No-Take” policy he said he enforced while leading the Philippine National Police from 1999 to 2001, and his refusal of pork barrel funds and lobby money in exchange for favorable legislation.
Cayetano, seen as aligned with the Duterte camp, pushed back in a separate Facebook video, casting Lacson’s offensive as a pattern of going after political rivals. “That’s how he melts down by destroying his enemies. Konting patience din kay Senator Lacson kasi one, may amo eh (Let’s have some patience with Senator Lacson because, number one, he has a master),” he said.
Lacson also turned to public spending, alleging that Cayetano secured P6.79 billion in budget insertions under the 2025 General Appropriations Act — spending Lacson contrasted with his own claim of having made no insertions since becoming a senator. He said 68 of the 70 projects tied to that sum had been carried out, leaving only about P75 million unreleased. Without offering evidence, he further alleged ghost flood control projects in Taguig City, Cayetano’s political base, and claimed the city engineer had lost large amounts gambling in Metro Manila casinos.
The senators’ 2025 wealth declarations place them far apart. Lacson’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth lists a net worth of P244,940,509.60, with holdings that include MegaStar Agri Farming Corporation, Squarestate Marketing Corporation, and Southseas Agri Aqua Ventures, Inc. Cayetano reported P109,130,757 and a single business interest in Philippine Art Nation, Inc.
The feud carries an institutional backdrop. Lacson had led the Blue Ribbon Committee’s inquiry into corruption in flood control projects before losing the chairmanship in the May 11 Senate reorganization that installed Cayetano as Senate president. Cayetano’s own hold on that post proved brief: he was ousted on June 3, though he continued to assert leadership until Senator Sherwin Gatchalian secured a majority on June 17.
Cayetano, for his part, has argued that scrutiny directed at him is politically motivated. He has said a National Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged irregularities in infrastructure for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games — including the New Clark City sports complex in Tarlac — amounts to intimidation. He chaired the games’ organizing committee but has maintained he had no role in the construction. NBI Director Melvin Matibag, who is scheduled to testify Tuesday in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, has said Cayetano’s name does not appear among those slated for investigation.
