Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday said it should be clarified that senators elected in May were not involved in any insertions in the Department of Public Works and Highways’ 2025 budget.
Lacson said the documents cited by Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste, which reportedly showed P120 billion in insertions, referred to the 19th Congress, months before the May midterm elections.
“Congressman Leviste should at least qualify his statement with the phrase ‘in the 19th Congress’ in fairness to the new members of the 20th Congress, including myself and Senate President Vicente Sotto III, among others,” the senator asserted.
The veteran lawmaker pointed out that even in previous Congresses, he never engaged in allocable funds or pork barrel allocations under any name.
A longtime opponent of the pork barrel system, Lacson was among 12 senators elected last May who assumed office on June 30.
Leviste, in a Monday radio interview, claimed senators inserted P120 billion in projects into the 2025 budget, citing documents from the late DPWH Undersecretary Ma. Catalina Cabral.
He also said his mother, Senator Loren Legarda, appeared on the list of project insertions despite allegedly having no knowledge of them.
Earlier, Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto warned against acting hastily on any alleged list left by Cabral, who died after falling from a cliff in Benguet.
The senate chief stressed that verifying claims linked to Cabral would be difficult following her death and cautioned against possible falsifications or alterations in the list.
Sotto said the source being deceased made it impossible to confirm the accuracy of any documents or claims associated with her.
According to Leviste, the list existed on Cabral’s computer and that some individuals may have copies of it.
Sotto said the only confirmed fact was that Cabral had spoken with Lacson, though it was unclear if a list was ever handed over to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.
