Senator Rodante Marcoleta denounced as “malicious” the imputations by Senator Ping Lacson that he had P500 million in allocables, based on a handwritten document allegedly obtained by the latter’s office from the camp of the late Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral. 

Marcoleta took the podium on Wednesday’s session to rebut Lacson’s statements in an interview and a forum earlier in the same day, during which he alleged that Cabral allocated P500 million worth of government projects to Marcoleta, a former House member.

In a privileged speech a day prior, Lacson already presented a slide showing a copy of the document in question, bearing the label “C/O Cong. Marcoleta” and a “500” note below, though he did not elaborate on it. 

The document forms part of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s (BRC) partial report on the flood control probe.

“It’s as if the privileged speech wasn't enough, and it needs to be further explained to the media to ensure that the malicious insinuations would spread despite lacking clarity and substance,” Marcoleta retorted. 

Lacson claimed that the document in question came directly from Cabral’s camp through her lawyer and that he intends to submit it to the Ombudsman, which has been conducting an exhaustive probe into the involvement of lawmakers in the scheme.

He admitted, however, that allocables alone are not illegal unless the projects for which the funds were intended are found to be ghost or substandard.

Marcoleta also pushed back at Lacson’s claims that he allegedly requested P1.5 billion in exchange for confirming the ad-interim appointment of ex-DPWH secretary Manuel Bonoan by one of the panels of the Commission on Appointments headed by Marcoleta.

Marcoleta posits that he is being implicated in the kickback scheme because Lacson, who replaced him as BRC chair, is taking his criticisms of the panel’s ongoing flood control probe personally. 

"Of the many names exposed in this controversy, some seem to be carefully avoided by our chairman and are not even mentioned directly, even though they have been repeatedly linked by the witnesses who have come forward and have been implicated several times in sworn statements. He is really trying to include me in his narrative. This is quite obvious, Mr. President,” he asserted. 

“Even then, it was always clear that there was an attempt to destroy not only my name but also my credibility as a public servant. And now, it seems that the same tactic is being repeated,” Marcoleta continued.

Lacson has since suggested that Marcoleta has harbored resentment towards him after he was booted out as chair of the powerful BRC following a change in the Senate leadership last year.

Lacson and Marcoleta have been figured in sever verbal spats, primarily over the investigation into an alleged kickback scheme in the flood control projects.

They also sparred on the BRC’s partial report, which Marcoleta has yet to sign, due to concerns about partiality.