SEN. Panfilo Lacson has uncovered two separate items that appear to be double appropriations for the same infrastructure project in Taguig City, indicating one of the two may be deemed a ghost project.
Lacson said that his team found three additional P100-million slope protection projects under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), raising to P2.385 billion the total insertions in Taguig City, the political bailiwick of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.
“From P2.085B as earlier reported we found three-P100M additional slope protection projects for a new total of P2.385B insertions under the 2025 GAA,” Lacson said in a statement posted on social media.
“Two items appear to be double appropriations, involving two-P100M for the same slope protection project. One of the two must be ghost,” he added.
Lacson earlier flagged at least two suspected ghost infrastructure projects as well as a large number of slope protection and drainage projects, most of them costing P100 million each, with a combined value of P2.085 billion in Taguig.
Of the P6.79-billion budget insertions under the 2025 GAA, Lacson said that 68 out of the 70 projects had been implemented while two projects involving P75 million remained unreleased or unobligated.
The senator said their initial findings on anomalous infrastructure projects in Taguig City included projects involving firms owned by the Discayas but implemented by another contractor under a 5-percent royalty scheme.
The findings also included similar projects contracted to Topnotch Catalyst Builders — which is among the top 15 flood control project contractors President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. revealed last year.
The projects including those involving Discaya-owned firms dated back to 2019 and 2020, when Cayetano was House speaker.
Lacson had vowed to pursue the investigation to its “logical conclusion” after Cayetano attacked his integrity in a Facebook Live broadcast.
Sought for comment, the camp of Cayetano reiterated the senator’s previous statement that there were no ghost flood control projects in Taguig City.
In a Facebook live over the weekend, Cayetano said the Office of the Ombudsman, during what he claimed was an interview in 2025, had already stated that there were no ghost projects in Taguig.
He said his own office had conducted a separate review of the city’s projects and likewise found no ghost projects.
“There are no ghost projects in Taguig. And if you can show us something, they will be held accountable. But when we followed the government funds, the projects were there,” Cayetano said.
The lawmaker then dared Lacson to also look at other highly urbanized cities like Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Makati and Parañaque, and not just single out Taguig because Lacson was vexed by him.
“I’m not saying those cities have problems. What I’m saying is, Senator Lacson needs to show that he’s not just annoyed with one person,” Cayetano said.
“Because how did we get here? They say, this person should be locked up. How did we get there? You just don’t like that person, so you want to lock him up?” he added.
