Despite winning the overall crown in the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, Senator Panfilo Lacson said he will still look for possible corruption in the staging of the biennial meet.

While he commended the victory of the Filipino athletes, Lacson said the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc), chaired by House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, is not yet off the hook as the Senate may still pursue an investigation on the possible irregularities in the hosting of the Games including the transfer of funds from Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to Phisgoc.

“Let us not think we owe Phisgoc for the success of the athletes. The Phisgoc is an organizing council that is in charge of the coordination. Now, if there are failures made by the Phisgoc, it may be true or not, we must look into it through the oversight which was the mandate of the Senate and HoR (House of Representatives),” Lacson said.

“Let us not mix up corruption, for example, made by Phisgoc with the athletes’ (performance) because that has nothing to do with the fact that we won the most number of gold medals,” he added.

Recently, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the chamber does not need to further investigate any irregularities in the SEA Games hosting as the Office of the Ombudsman is already leading the probe.

However, Lacson said that the Senate investigation can still help in the fact-finding process emphasizing that Senate probes have already led to the filing of charges before the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan.

“In my point of view, if there is a resolution and privilege speech regarding this and it was referred to the committee, for example, the Blue Ribbon Committee, then the investigation should push through,” he said.

“There are issues like the transfer of funds from PSC which is a government agency to a private foundation which is Phisgoc. That was the big question because those are government funds. You cannot allocate it in a

private foundation.”

Lacson pointed out that probe relevant to this

case is necessary as these will be helpful in reviewing and amending existing laws like the Government Procurement Law.

The senator also said that no one will be exempted from the probe.

He cited anew the case of former Isabela Governor Grace Padaca, who was recently convicted by the Sandiganbayan for funneling government funds to a non-governmental organization without the approval of the Isabel Provincial Board.

Lacson previously said that PSC’s transfer of fund to

Phisgoc can be likened to the case of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

He said that it has some similarities to the Priority Development Assistance Fund that some government agencies transferred to the non-government organizations of Napoles.

Phisgoc wasn’t supposed to be a foundation.

In fact, it was supposed to be a mere ad hoc committee under the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), which is the franchise holder of the SEA Games in the country.

But when Jose “Peping” Cojuangco stepped down following a court-ordered election in 2018, his successor in Ricky Vargas and seven other personalities broke away from the POC by assembling a foundation.

Members of the POC executive council questioned the formation of the foundation. They demanded an explanation from Vargas, who stepped down and was succeeded by Rep. Abraham Tolentino.