Lacson dares Vince after no ghost remarks in Cayetano's turf: Explain Taguig projects 'located' in Leyte

Senator Ping Lacson dared Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon on Sunday to explain a Taguig project allegedly located in Leyte, roughly 600 kilometers from Senator Alan Cayetano’s political bailiwick, with the Discaya couple as the purported contractor.

The challenge was triggered by Dizon’s denial that there were “ghost” or non-existent projects in Taguig after he was confronted by Cayetano during a budget hearing at the Senate on Friday.

Lacson claimed that Dizon’s account was a stark contrast to the findings of DPWH’s site inspection reports carried out by his own subordinates, which allegedly found that billing records of Taguig did not match the actual location of the project.

The findings were reportedly submitted by the DPWH to Lacson’s office at the height of the lawmaker’s independent probe into allegations of anomalous projects in Taguig.

According to Lacson, the project record showed that the Taguig local government released P13.74 million, representing a 15 percent advance payment, on 23 June 2022, but the submitted photographs indicated that the project was located in Leyte.

“Since when has Taguig been located in Leyte?” Lacson asked. “Sec. Vince Dizon, please explain how this finding of your own team should not be flagged as a ghost project in Taguig.”

More strikingly, the project was allegedly awarded to St. Timothy Construction Corp., a firm owned by the couple Curlee and Sarah Discaya, who are currently behind bars on malversation and graft charges stemming from allegations of ghost and substandard flood control projects across the country.

“What do you say about this, Sec?” Lacson pressed Dizon.

The findings further suggested that certain project billings in Taguig purportedly lacked photographic evidence of implementation, such as a project involving P37.16 million in July 2022, and that a project amounting to P21.20 million had no coordinates in its attached images in a billing dated 22 September 2022.

Meanwhile, three separate billings allegedly showed that Taguig shelled out P19.174 million on 12 September 2022, and another P18.960 million on 22 February 2023, with supporting geotagged photo evidence, but no coordinates.

GPS coordinates serve as a safeguard for locating, monitoring, and auditing public infrastructure projects and are mandatory.

The glaring discrepancies in the reports, according to Lacson, suggest that the projects are either ghost or fraudulent.

There are currently 107 projects in Taguig, all of which have accomplishment reports, as corroborated by DPWH Undersecretary Ricardo Bernabe III.

Dizon’s admission last week put an end to the conflicting claims of Cayetano and Lacson, who have been locked in a verbal row since May.

Lacson has repeatedly linked Cayetano to suspected ghost slope protection and flood mitigation projects along the Taguig River, which is reportedly now subject to the Ombudsman’s investigation.

Lacson has alleged that public funds involved in the alleged anomalous infrastructure projects in Cayetano’s turf totaled P14.4 billion, covering the period from 2020—when Cayetano was still the Speaker of the House of Representatives—to 2025.

The scheme allegedly involved recycling photos from previously completed contracts to justify billing and collect payments for purportedly new projects.

The Taguig lawmaker has denied allegations of kickbacks from flood control projects, accusing Lacson of a “demolition job” and political persecution allegedly meant to intimidate and stop him from criticizing the purported cover-up by administration lawmakers in the corruption scandal.