The resumption of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s investigation into the alleged corruption scheme in the flood control projects will now depend on the consensus of all the senators, panel chair Erwin Tulfo confirmed Sunday, barely a week after announcing their plan to reopen the stalled probe. 

The committee plans to resume the investigation this week, but the lack of finalized members keeps it in limbo.

Tulfo said that regardless of whether the BRC is constituted this week, the investigation will ultimately depend on the collective decision of all Senate members. 

“That is why I need to convene the Blue Ribbon Committee immediately to discuss with all the members what direction to take. Are we still going to discuss this? Because it seems like it would amount to double jeopardy,” Tulfo said in Filipino in a radio interview. 

His remarks came less than a week after insinuating that the minority bloc, led by Senator Alan Cayetano, has allegedly attempted to block the revival of the probe amid a parallel investigation by Senator Ping Lacson. 

Lacson has claimed to have unearthed evidence of alleged anomalous projects in Taguig, Cayetano’s political turf. 

The findings were already submitted to the Ombudsman last week, with recommendations for plunder, graft, and malversation, though Lacson said he would still furnish the BRC with the same so that it could investigate the “ghost” projects at the next hearing. 

Tulfo was reluctant to launch another hearing if it would only be a repeat of the previous allegations involving lawmakers, given that the same were already subject to the Ombudsman’s investigation. 

He argued that tackling repetitive issues would only derail other pressing business of the Senate, particularly the ongoing impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte and the passage of the administration's priority bills.

“The Ombudsman is already conducting an investigation. We at the Blue Ribbon Committee also have our own investigation. So there are two separate probes. What is the point?” the chair pointed out.

Tulfo stressed that unless a concrete and new development emerges, the BRC will resume the probe subject to the majority’s approval. 

The findings in Taguig are expected to be among those to be taken up once the BRC probe resumes. 

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

The scheme allegedly flourished in 2020, when Cayetano was still Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

From that period to 2025, Taguig accumulated a staggering P14.4 billion worth of infrastructure projects, according to Lacson.

Word war continues

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, in which several allies of President Marcos Jr., including Tulfo, were implicated. 

In a Facebook live on Sunday, Cayetano rebuked Lacson’s fresh tirades as blatant lies. The minority leader’s remarks came shortly after Lacson, in jest, rejected Cayetano’s offer to come to Taguig and see for himself that his allegations of ghost projects are baseless. 

Lacson said he would only visit Taguig once the flood control projects there are properly implemented and devoid of corruption.

“Well, Senator Lacson, you won’t drown in the floods in Taguig; you’ll drown in the truth,” Cayetano countered. “When everything is filled with lies, what overwhelms you is the truth.” 

Last week, Lacson publicly released photos to support allegations of non-existent projects and double billing in Taguig. 

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.

Lacson likewise said that evidence links Cayetano to reclamation projects along Taguig's lakeshore development that lacked the necessary permits from agencies, including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and were funded using appropriations in the national budget meant for slope protection projects.

“We were surprised by the extent of the anomalies in Taguig. It's a small city, but the funds poured into it are considerable,” Lacson previously said. 

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

Cayetano rejected the comparison, saying it was “far off” because most areas in Taguig are already flood-free compared to neighboring cities.

Nonetheless, Cayetano vowed to confront Lacson’s accusations head-on, denying that his camp had tried to derail the resumption of the BRC’s probe.

The last flood control investigation was held on 8 June, though Senate President Win Gatchalian and allies called it bogus or illegitimate amid a leadership row with Cayetano, who convened the hearing despite being ousted on 3 June. 

The Cayetano-led bloc contested the leadership changes, citing an alleged lack of quorum.