Sen. Ping Lacson Speaks on 2025 Budget Insertions of Senators, Congressmen
PING LACSON – The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman revealed that ‘almost all senators’ had P100-billion budget insertions in 2025.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have a leadership change amid the issue of anomalous flood control projects in the Philippines. Aside from Senator Chiz Escudero being ousted from the Senate presidency and replaced with Sen. Tito Sotto, the upper chamber has a Senate shakeup.
Under the lead of Sotto, 15 senators are now part of the Senate Majority bloc. Most of the Duterte-known allies in the upper chamber are part of the Minority bloc.
The Senate President Pro Tempore now is Sen. Ping Lacson after Sen. Jinggoy Estrada is accused of involvement in the flood control mess. Sen. Migz Zubiri is currently the Majority leader after Sen. Joel Villanueva is also tagged of allegedly receiving kickback from the flood control projects.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee also has a change of chairmanship amid the flood probe — from Sen. Rodante Marcoleta to Sen. Ping Lacson. Despite the creation of the Independent Commission for Infrastructures, the upper chamber pushed through with its investigation over the country’s top corruption issue now.
Amid the ongoing flood control probe in the Senate, Sen. Ping Lacson recently revealed that ‘almost all senators’ in the 19th Congress had budget insertions of at least P100-billion for 2025. Based on a report on ABS-CBN News, Lacson claimed that he allegedly saw the documents pertaining to the budget but he has yet to see the list of lawmakers in the House of Representatives who supposedly have budget insertions, too.
“Senate pa lang ito, hindi pa natatapos kasi mayroon din akong nakita doon na listahan ng mga congressmen, hindi lamang NEP yung kabuuan, eh sa senate pa lang at least P100 billion, nagulat nga ako sa individual insertions ito ah, ito yung naka FLR (for later release) ngayon,” the Senate Blue Ribbon Chairman told DZMM TeleRadyo.
According to Sen. Ping Lacson, then when the Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF was yet to be declared as “unconstitutional”, the budget insertions were allegedly around hundreds of millions and what he saw now is really far from then. Based on the report, the Senator refused to reveal the names of the senators.
“Pagkalalaki, never pa ako nakakita, kasi nung araw, na hindi pa nade-declare na unconstitutional yung PDAF, nandoon lang sa hundreds of millions eh, eh ngayon ang nakita ko, total, kabuuan, at least a hundred billion,” Lacson said.
Amid the Senate flood investigation, Sen. Ping Lacson wanted the “totally surprise witness” presented by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta to be under a full record check. Aside from Estrada and Villanueva, Sen. Chiz Escudero is also accused of allegedly receiving kickback from flood control projects.