Senator Ping Lacson on Friday bared plans to bypass the Blue Ribbon Committee and submit directly to the Ombudsman the findings by his office concerning alleged anomalous projects in Taguig, to fast-track the possible case buildup against Senator Alan Peter Cayetano. 

Lacson expressed confidence that the pieces of evidence that they have gathered from their initial investigation are already “sufficient” that the Ombudsman could skip the fact-finding process. 

“It can proceed directly to the preliminary investigation to expedite the resolution process and establish the so-called 'reasonable certainty of conviction,' allowing the case to go straight to the Sandiganbayan for the immediate issuance of a warrant,” Lacson said in Filipino in a radio interview.

He remarked that the plan to skip the BRC hearing also aims to prevent the potential witness from being harassed, which could discourage them from continued cooperation in the probe.

Some of the evidence was not directly produced by his office but was provided by third parties or informants. Lacson said even the senator’s brother, PTV General Manager Lino Cayetano, showed interest in coordinating and meeting with him to provide additional information about the supposed irregular and “ghost” projects in their bailiwick Taguig.

The investigation of Lacson’s office reportedly uncovered the identity of two more “bagmen” of Cayetano, bringing the total number to three. 

Senator Cayetano, in response, contradicted Lacson’s allegations, saying that a preliminary investigation by Taguig local government, being led by his wife, Mayor Lani Cayetano, revealed that there are no ghost projects in the city. 

He claimed that Taguig local government has made it a habit to monitor its projects, and that had not fallen short in reporting problematic projects to the Department of Public Works and Highways, prompting it to inspect the sites. 

Although Cayetano criticized the looming probe as a mere “distraction,” designed to deflect his attention from criticizing further the administration over unaddressed issues such as alleged massive corruption, he pointed out that he is prepared to confront all the allegations leveled against him, including the issue of the 2019 SEA Games. 

“I continue to wait for the specific allegation, and I will face it. But of course, my appeal is that don’t single out Taguig. It is not right,” Cayetano said in a Facebook live Friday.

Lacson, on the contrary, denied that Taguig is being singled out, saying the city was indeed included in the list of areas to be investigated by the BRC last year, though it was delayed because flood-prone provinces like Bulacan were the priority. 

Nonetheless, Lacson averred that it would not be confined to Cayetano, as the investigation uncovered that several individuals could be implicated based on the findings. 

According to Lacson, the findings showed defective projects in Taguig that had overlapping linear meter measurements between project phases, which appeared to make room for kickbacks or allow contractors to inflate operational costs.

These “questionable” projects formed part of the P6.8 billion in alleged congressional insertions linked to Cayetano in the 2025 budget alone.

“Out of that, we found P3.85 billion involving almost identical amounts—mostly P100 million—, and there were so many of them,” Lacson stressed.

“Until we found two entries with identical locations and descriptions. This means it was a single project that was double funded,” he concluded.