SEN. Panfilo Lacson said plunder may be among the charges that could be filed against those involved in the anomalous infrastructure projects in Taguig City, the bailiwick of Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.
This, as Lacson and his team continued pursuing leads over the weekend in their investigation into the anomalous slope protection and drainage projects in Taguig City to reach a "logical conclusion" and hold those responsible accountable.
"WORKING ON A WEEKEND: today, a Saturday, we haven’t slowed down in following up the leads to maintain the momentum gained since we started investigating the anomalous slope protection and drainage projects in Taguig," Lacson said in a social media post.
"Our goal is to reach its logical conclusion," the senator added.
Lacson also reiterated that the investigation is not about personal conflicts but about accountability.
"If it is a series of acts involving at least P50 million, there's no other way to go but to file plunder charges," Lacson said in a radio interview on Friday evening.
"This is not about friendship or personal fights but about accountability. If there is no accountability, why would I push through with the investigation?" he added.
Last week, Lacson said he was already gathering “informants and witnesses” regarding the alleged corruption, saying that Cayetano belongs in jail.
This occurred amid an escalating feud between the two senators after Cayetano claimed that Lacson's and Sen. Erwin Tulfo’s net worth had doubled.
On Friday, Lacson said that with the plot thickening and the case strengthening, the investigation has reached the point where it can be described as "Shoot sa kaldero (Shooting into the cooking pot)," a reference to the controversial P50-million ceremonial cauldron constructed for the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games that Cayetano authorized.
Lacson said the probe has uncovered more potential witnesses and evidence that suggest the alleged anomalies may involve several individuals, not just one.
"Long story short, if we summarize this, this is a work in progress and the progress seems good. We have uncovered many pieces of evidence and talked to many potential witnesses. So this is not confined to one person — we think there are many others who may be implicated," he said.
Lacson also disclosed that investigators found additional questionable slope protection projects worth around P100 million each, bringing the total value of the projects under scrutiny to P3.385 billion.
He said two of the projects carried the same location and description, raising concerns that one project may have been funded twice.
"One project was funded twice. It may not be outright illegal but if payment was collected for both, one is a ghost project. If one was not implemented, where did the P100 million appropriation for it go?" Lacson said.
Investigators had also identified allegedly defective projects with overlapping spans that appeared to create opportunities for kickbacks, he added.
Cayetano has repeatedly denied allegations of non-existent or "ghost" flood control and infrastructure projects in Taguig City, calling the accusations vague and insisting that preliminary checks by local and national officials found no proof of such irregularities.
The senator maintained that all projects went through proper public bidding and that any identified flaws pertain to implementation or procurement issues rather than non-existent works.
He also urged authorities to investigate other local government units rather than singling out Taguig.
"There are no ghost projects in Taguig. If you can show one, someone should be held accountable," Cayetano said on his previous Facebook livestream.
The latest feud between the two senators erupted after Cayetano publicly questioned the significant doubling of Lacson's declared net worth on his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), which Lacson viewed as a direct attack on his integrity.
