SEN. Panfilo Lacson on Sunday said he is considering visiting Taguig City, the political bailiwick of Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, but only after the city’s flood control program is properly implemented and rid of corruption.
In a recent Facebook Live broadcast, Cayetano “invited” Lacson to visit Taguig and personally see the infrastructure projects there — even after he and his team gathered evidence about the anomalies.
Lacson said in jest he does not want to drown in floodwaters since he has not gone swimming recently.
“I may visit Taguig once the flood control program there is free of corruption. I haven’t practiced swimming recently, and I don’t want to drown in floodwaters there. Lol,” Lacson said on a social media post.
He stressed the need for Taguig’s flood control program to be properly implemented and free of corruption after a 7-year-old boy drowned while bathing in floodwaters.
The boy’s body was recovered the following day in a creek in Barangay Ususan.
Ususan is the site of one of the five case studies submitted by Lacson to the Office of the Ombudsman last week.
Cayetano said it was better to see what Taguig looks like in person rather than what the paper or picture shows.
“I will continue to invite, not only Senator Lacson, not only his staff, but everyone. Because what’s on paper is just paper. What’s in a picture is just a picture. Look at the budget, go to the site, and you’ll see that the projects are actually there and well-made,” he said.
Lacson linked the alleged anomalies in Taguig to Cayetano, who has denied claims of ghost infrastructure projects in the city and called for similar investigations into projects in other Metro Manila cities.
Cayetano’s wife, Lani, is the incumbent mayor of Taguig.
Lacson and his team have conducted at least five case studies so far and have turned over evidence to the Ombudsman for further investigation.
Over the weekend, Lacson disclosed evidence that he said shows Cayetano virtually controls Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) operations and other related activities in Taguig, with district engineers being replaced if they acted without his approval.
He also cited evidence showing a possible 33-percent kickback structure in infrastructure projects in the city.
Lacson said evidence links Cayetano to reclamation projects along Taguig’s lakeshore development that lacked the needed permits from agencies, including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and were funded using appropriations in the national budget meant for slope protection projects.
“Our resource person said he (Cayetano) would resort to harassment, and the agencies involved could not do anything. If there were committee hearings, the agencies’ representatives would be scolded and harassed. And they know he had served as speaker before becoming a senator,” Lacson said last Friday.
