SEN. Panfilo Lacson’s office did not like my July 22 column comparing his ballooning net worth to Vice President Sara Duterte’s, and had his “media relations officer” Joel Locsin — a mysterious fellow — write this paper a letter titled “Setting the record straight on Lacson’s alleged ‘unexplained wealth.’”
Oddly, “Locsin” has no digital footprint — no Facebook, X, TikTok, or any social media account, while even my caddy has one. No media colleague has heard of him. One wonders whether “Locsin” is the senator’s alias — the name sounds like Lacson spoken quickly. The two names differ only in two letters. “Locsin” also suggests a relative of two titans of media, Teodoro Locsin Sr. and my former boss, Raul Locsin. This paper should verify if letter-writers are real.
But if Locsin is real, Lacson should fire this staffer in charge of media relations who doesn’t track what’s being reported online.
Worse, of Locsin-Lacson’s 520-word reply, the actual “explanation” totals just 15 words — 3 percent of the letter: “During the period, Lacson engaged in legitimate real estate transactions and other private business ventures.” Period.
The rest is blanket denial, a reference to 25-year-old accusations against him that he claims were proven false, a tribute to his parents’ integrity and a lecture on journalism from someone who has never written a news story. That is an assertion dressed up as an explanation, and because Lacson has repeated it on television, and through his office, it deserves the same scrutiny I applied to Duterte’s finances.
Let’s be precise about the numbers, which Locsin-Lacson doesn’t dispute — only the propriety of comparing them. Sara and husband Manases Carpio reported a combined net worth of P65.3 million at end-2021, rising to P98.6 million by end-2024 — an increase of P33.3 million over three years, explainable by ordinary property appreciation and her husband’s law practice.
Lacson’s own numbers: a net worth of P58.8 million when he left the Senate on June 30, 2022, rising to P245 million when he returned on June 30, 2025 — an increase of P186 million, or 317 percent, over the identical span. That’s 5.6 times larger than Duterte’s rise, for a former police chief with no declared real estate background before 2022. The ballooning of Lacson’s net worth is the biggest among all 24 senators.
Modest
If Sara’s more modest P33.3-million rise was grounds enough for a Senate impeachment trial built partly on an “unexplained wealth” article, a P186-million rise deserves more than a press-release explanation.
Here is the substance of Lacson’s defense in several media interviews on July 18: “Whatever money I have, I definitely earned legitimately through some real estate deals and other legitimate businesses with two other business partners, and I paid P10.5 million and P2.8 million, respectively, as reflected in my tax returns.” In another interview Lacson said he himself “brokered” the sale of a piece of property as a private citizen.
Missing from all three versions: no property named, no buyer or seller identified, no price, deed or date disclosed, and the “two other business partners” never identified — no partnership agreement, corporate vehicle or brokerage license cited anywhere. Nine months on after his wealth was first questioned, Lacson has given no details but added adjectives — “legitimate,” “successful” — but no facts.
If the P186-million gain came predominantly from brokerage commissions — the plain meaning of “nag-broker,” his own word — arithmetic shows how large the underlying transactions must have been. Philippine brokers typically earn 3 to 5 percent of gross selling price. Generating P186 million in commissions alone requires brokering roughly P3.7 billion worth of property at 5 percent, or P6.2 billion at 3 percent. If that P186 million was his own share after splitting proceeds three ways with unnamed partners, the underlying deals could run into the P11-billion-to-P18-billion range.
Transactions
Transactions of that size, involving a well-known senator, would have been talked about across the industry and in politics, and would have even made front-page news, especially as purchases of that magnitude could have only been made by the likes of SM or Ayala Land. It was a killing of huge proportions. The rumor-mill would have gone on overdrive with one question for example: Was the broker Lacson, because of his political weight?
I don’t think though that Lacson would have been so reckless as to have been the broker of the land purchased in 2018 for P1.8 billion by the Senate for its new offices, which Lacson had been pushing for and was put in charge of. Or was he? A single billion-peso sale triggers documentary stamp and transfer taxes, Registry of Deeds filings, and a capital gains tax return — a paper trail that should exist in a public registry.
Neither Lacson nor his office has pointed to it. Instead, we’re asked to accept that unexplained billion-peso deals, executed by a two-decade political fixture never previously known as a real estate dealer, happened so quietly that not even the property can be named. Lacson might as well have claimed that the soaring of his net worth was due to casino winnings or winning the Lotto jackpot.
The tax figures don’t square either. The Locsin letter leans on income tax returns as proof: “his duly filed income tax returns bear this out.” But in October 2025, Lacson said he paid P4.8 million for the taxable year 2021 and P11.8 million for 2024. In July 2026, he cited different figures — P10.5 million and P2.8 million — later attached to taxable years 2023 and 2024. So, what year did he pay, or should have paid P65 million — the income taxes on his sale of a P6-billion property. Did he pay the appropriate taxes?
There’s also the matter of what didn’t make it to the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN). Lacson served as independent director of billionaire Enrique Razon’s Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. from July 2022 to 2023 — confirmed by Prime Infra’s board announcement and his own 2025 Inquirer “VotePH” candidate profile — precisely when his “legitimate real estate/trading” activities supposedly took off. A broadcast report alleges his 2025 SALN omits that directorship, despite Republic Act 6713’s requirement that all business interests be disclosed.
None of this proves Lacson did anything illegal. What I am saying is that “I earned it legitimately, trust me and my tax returns” is not an answer to a P186-million question — it asks the public to take his word for it, from an official who accuses me “of failing to verify facts.”
I’m asking only for details, unless of course the property transactions were fishy: name the properties, name the partners, produce the deeds. Until then, the comparison stands — not because the two cases are identical, but because by any honest measure of scale, it is Lacson’s numbers, not Duterte’s, that cry out loudest of “unexplained wealth.” If Lacson doesn’t explain his still unexplained wealth, it would be hypocritical of him to vote Sara guilty of the impeachment article of unexplained wealth.
Facebook: Rigoberto Tiglao
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