The Senate minority bloc, led by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, has allegedly attempted to derail the resumption of the flood control probe amid Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s parallel investigation into purportedly anomalous projects in Taguig, Cayetano’s political bailiwick.

Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chair Sen. Erwin Tulfo declined to identify those allegedly behind the move, although he said it was “obvious” who they were.

“Actually, to tell you the truth, it’s the other camp that’s blocking [the reopening of the investigation]. It’s not us in the majority,” Tulfo told reporters, partly in Filipino.

“Real talk, they are now the ones pleading with us not to proceed with the Blue Ribbon. And I was saying that if that’s the case, you should say that. You have to explain it to the media, to the public, that you don’t want it,” he added.

Tulfo made the remarks after Lacson turned over the findings of his investigation to the Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday, hoping plunder, graft and malversation charges would be filed against those allegedly behind anomalous flood control projects in Taguig.

In recent weeks, Lacson explicitly linked Cayetano to alleged ghost and substandard infrastructure projects in Taguig, while claiming other projects had duplicate budgets of about P100 million each.

Speaker Cayetano

He alleged the scheme flourished in 2020, when Cayetano was still speaker of the House of Representatives.

The flagged projects allegedly involved misrepresenting an illegal reclamation project as slope protection structures, ghost projects, double funding, and the recycling of photos from previously completed contracts to justify billing and payment for purportedly new projects.

From 2020 to 2025, Taguig accumulated P14.4 billion worth of infrastructure projects, according to Lacson.

Lacson alleged the anomalies in Taguig were “something else” compared with those in Bulacan, which he described as the “most notorious” in the alleged flood control corruption scheme.

Cayetano rejected the comparison, saying it was “far off” because Taguig is flood-free.

He also dismissed Lacson’s allegations as “malicious” and overly broad, but vowed to confront them head-on.

Ombudsman-bound

Lacson and Cayetano have been engaged in a public word war since May, although tensions escalated after Cayetano questioned the sharp increase in Lacson’s net worth from 2022 to 2025 despite his no longer being in public office.