The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) assured Minority Leader Alan Cayetano on Sunday that it would resume its stalled investigation into the flood control anomalies as soon as the Senate resumes session after the SONA on 27 July, with the alleged “ghost projects” in his turf in Taguig expected to be at the forefront of the inquiry. 

The announcement follows Cayetano’s repeated calls for the panel to reopen the flood control probe amid allegations that administration-backed senators are delaying, if not burying, the investigation while the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is ongoing.

BRC chairperson Erwin Tulfo reiterated that the committee has not yet terminated its probe, and in fact will invite Cayetano’s younger brother, PTV general manager Lino Cayetano, when the panel relaunches the investigation after the SONA, or once the panel is fully constituted. 

Recall that Lino previously pushed for an audit of over P6 billion flood control and infrastructure projects in Taguig from 2022 to 2025, under the watch of her sister-in-law, Lani Cayetano, the city mayor. 

Tulfo stressed that Lino’s call may have been prompted by concerns of irregularities in the multi-billion-peso projects that warrant further scrutiny from the panel, which has spearheaded the flood control probe since August last year. 

“That probably needs to be looked into more closely. I did not make the statement, but his brother did. So, I’ll give the brother a chance. I’ll invite him to our first hearing,” Tulfo said in Filipino in a radio interview. 

Senator Cayetano was quick to debunk the allegations of “ghost projects” in Taguig, saying the Ombudsman had already launched a preliminary investigation last year, but still showed no concrete evidence proving the non-existent flood control projects in his bailiwick to date. 

What ‘ghost’ projects?

“There are no ghost [projects]. Excuse me. There are no ghost [projects] in Taguig. And if you can show proof of any, someone will be held accountable,” he said in Filipino in a Facebook live on Sunday. 

The minority leader attributed the abrupt inclusion of Taguig into the flood control probe to his ongoing spat with Senator Ping Lacson, the former BRC chair, whom he accused of controlling Tulfo and being the “protector” of the perpetrators. 

Senator Cayetano denounced the move as politically motivated, aimed at scaling back the participation of the Senate minority bloc in Duterte’s ongoing impeachment amid lingering questions on whether the conviction threshold of 16 will be reduced because several senators are unable to participate in the trial.

The number of senator-judges is now down from 24 to 21 following the arrests of Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta, both on plunder charges, while Senator Bato dela Rosa is still in hiding to evade an International Criminal Court warrant. They are allied with the Cayetano-led bloc.

Tulfo’s announcement came a day after Lacson alleged that Senator Cayetano had P6.79 billion worth of congressional insertions in the “graft-ridden” 2025 national budget. 

The amount translates to 70 projects, though investigation allegedly revealed that only 68 were implemented. 

The two projects that were left unimplemented cost around P75 million each, according to Lacson. 

Lacson further alleged that Taguig’s city engineer gambles huge sums of money in casinos in Metro Manila.

Since the ouster of Cayetano as Senate president on 3 June, he and Lacson have traded barbs over the stalled flood control probe, with the former accusing Lacson and his allies of aggressively pushing the leadership revamp to derail the investigation, where several allies of President Marcos Jr. were implicated, including Tulfo. 

Alan ‘crossed the line’

However, their word war escalated after Cayetano on Saturday questioned the “doubling” of Lacson's net worth from 2022 to 2025, despite not being in the government service at the time. 

Lacson took great offense at Cayetano’s insinuations, asserting that he “crossed the line” by attacking his integrity, which he deemed “first and last line of [my] defense” since assuming public office in the early 2000s.

Lacson claimed that he never had a “pork barrel” and that any increase in his net worth was acquired by “legitimate” business, which was properly taxed. 

As a result, Lacson, former PNP chief, vowed that he will go all-out to obtain tips from his informants that could help him send Cayetano to Payatas, Quezon City Jail.

Meanwhile, Tulfo also denied Cayetano’s allegations that the BRC no longer has plans to resume the investigation into the flood control anomalies, saying they will hold a hearing once the members, comprising senators from the majority and minority blocs, are complete. 

The chair also criticized Cayetano for being hypocritical for eagerly calling for the resumption of the probe when he never attended a single hearing at the time it was ongoing, despite being a member of the panel. 

Tulfo attributed the stalemate of the flood control probe to the non-election of minority members to the committee following the chaotic leadership shakeup that removed Cayetano from the chamber’s top post.

No joint affidavit

Nonetheless, Tulfo averred that the committee will remain open to recommendations to invite the former bodyguards and so-called bagmen of ex-lawmaker Elizaldy Co. He, however, set a condition that he will only allow them to testify if they execute an individual affidavit. 

The move aims to streamline the investigation by preventing repetitive testimonies that could only derail the Senate’s business, including the ongoing impeachment trial.

“So what should we investigate? If their names were submitted to the Ombudsman, wouldn't that be redundant?,” Tulfo stressed. 

According to the BRC chair, they will not simply reopen the investigation without concrete and new developments, saying the allegations of kickback deliveries to several lawmakers are becoming repetitive, which will only derail other pressing business of the Senate, if carried out again.

Besides, he noted that corruption cases related to flood control anomalies are already the subject of the parallel investigation of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice, with some already elevated to the Sandiganbayan.

Tulfo himself has been implicated by the so-called former security aides and “bagmen” of ex-lawmaker Elizaldy Co in the kickback scheme, accusing him of receiving several suitcases stuffed with illegal money. 

Tulfo has strongly denied the corruption allegations, offered to resign if documentary proof is produced, and expressed willingness to inhibit from the BRC’s probe. 

The 18 bodyguards had repeatedly alleged that they delivered “maletas” to several members of Congress allied with President Marcos Jr. during their time serving as security aides of Co, who was when he was still the chair of the House appropriations panel in the last Congress.

The cash was allegedly obtained through kickbacks from ghost or substandard flood control projects.

The group's credibility, however, was put into question after the Armed Forces of the Philippines disowned several of them, while the majority had been dishonorably discharged. 

The AFP also claimed that the group was no longer in the service at the time of the alleged deliveries. The group, in response, denied receiving P5 million each in bribes from Defensor, as alleged by the NBI, to fabricate the “fictitious” testimonies, which was a repeat of their February affidavit.