IT’S A CLASSIC case of he said she said, only this time both involved in the verbal war are male senators.
Senator Panfilo Lacson posted on social media that over P3.713 billion in public funds were misused by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano for completed, ongoing, and suspended Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects along the Taguig lakeshore reached P3.713 billion and that 38 hectares were reclaimed by Cayetano’s contractors of the Laguna lake for P2.372 billion, that included contractors like Dahl Construction, JC Uyecio, Toughbuilt, Topnotch and GR Fervidal.
For his part, Cayetano claims that Lacson is using his position to further his ambition for the topmost position in the land come 2028, which Lacson flatly denied even as early as February 21 this year during an alumni homecoming of the Philippine Military Academy in Fort Gregorio del Pilar.
Lacson, whose return in the Senate after the midterm polls last May 2025, gained more prominence and importance when he assumed last year the chairmanship of the powerful Blue Ribbon Committee. He continues to amass dossiers about his colleagues involved in kickbacks and flood control project scandals, where three of his colleagues are now detained because of the incriminating evidence he obtained about their illegal wealth accumulation.
All his findings were submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman fact finding team and the Department of Public Works and Highways have since issued cease and desist orders on the exposed irregularities of these projects.
Lacson also claimed that over 38 hectares were reclaimed without permits, with some parcels covered by fraudulently issued titles or missing from the Land Registration Authority digital records.
As early as February, Lacson told mediamen that he had “Absolutely no” ambition for higher office in 2028 citing that “I’m nearing the twilight of my career” as his term as returning senator ends in 2031.
“I’m still eligible for reelection in 2031, but I’m not intending to. I intend to finish my public service career in 2031 when my current or first term ends in the Senate,” he added.
After a failed presidential bid three years ago, Lacson ran and won a fourth non-consecutive term in the Senate in the 2025 elections. His current term will end in 2031, the Inquirer reported.
Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo, also a former presidential hopeful in 2022, has also been floated as a potential candidate to challenge beleaguered Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s bid to be chief executive.
Robredo met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., her and Lacson’s former rival, in Naga City last February to launch a flood control system rehabilitation program, fueling speculation that the visit would delve into politics. “Well, it’s hard to speculate because we’re not privy to their conversations.”
“All I know is the President requested us, the Senate, to allocate or appropriate funds for the Local Government Fund to augment what needs, not only for Naga City for that matter but all local government units,” he added.
For now, Cayetano has been actively striking back at Lacson through his social media page and so is Lacson exposing him even more vehemently also in social media. Cayetano has been daring Lacson to present solid evidence as the shortest-lived Senate President Cayetano trumpets Taguig’s management of the lakeshore, which he claims serves public functions like health, education, and business. He noted the government would benefit if illegal titles are cancelled and land reverts to the state.
Lacson posted on his X account that the misused funds “do not include other anomalous Slope Protection and Flood Mitigation projects along Taguig River involving double appropriations and ‘ghost’ projects using recycled photographs in different ‘completed’ projects, for billing purposes.”
He bared that the top five contractors of Cayetano for the P2.732 billion Taguig projects are:
1) Dahl Construction: P858.22 million covering five solo projects worth P571.5 million and four joint ventures totaling P286.7 million;
2) J.C. Uyecio: P483.1 million covering four joint ventures;
3) Toughbuilt: P434.2 million covering three solo projects;
4) Topnotch: P329.9 million covering two joint ventures with Core Check and one with Beam Team; and
5) GR Fervidal: P266.6 Million covering five solo multi-purpose building projects
All of the multipurpose building projects of GR Fervidal were suspended due to a “revision of plans” involving soil re-investigation, Lacson said.
Cayetano branded Lacson’s earlier findings of the illegal reclamation activities as “fake news.”
Lacson earlier said an investigation by his office has found reclamation activities on Taguig City’s side of Laguna Lake covering at least 85 hectares of land, warning that these activities may threaten the Laguna Lake’s ecosystem as garbage meant for the Rizal provincial sanitary landfill may end up there instead.
According to Lacson, the lands cover areas ranging from 5,000 to 193,027 square meters. All four were processed through various patent and land registration procedures while there were four other parcels with no plotted titled lots in the Land Registration Authority’s digital records.
Lacson’s probe into Taguig’s infrastructure projects started in August after Cayetano alleged that Lacson’s networth had increased twofold.
Lacson replied by saying he had no budget insertions since he was elected senator unlike Cayetano’s P6.79-billion insertions in the 2025 General Appropriations Act. Cayetano has denied all these allegations and said Taguig had no “ghost” projects.
Lacson said the Taguig projects, including illegal reclamation activities in Laguna Lake which he linked to the Cayetano dynasty had been carried out for years under the guise of flood control and mitigation projects. He also alleged that Cayetano threatened the PRA to stop it from investigating the reclamation works.
He had sought the forfeiture of the reclaimed lakeshore areas in favor of the national government.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) has expressed support for the investigation into the reclamation activities, saying these were threatening Laguna Lake’s ecosystem and affecting fisherfolk and urban poor communities in Muntinlupa and Taguig cities.
Pamalakaya, a national federation of small-scale fisherfolk organizations in the Philippines, also rejected Cayetano’s claim that the projects were intended to control flooding and protect the lake.