Lacson’s report lists several solons in ‘menu’ of possible charges

MANILA, Philippines — As promised, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday reported to the Senate floor the Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) “Chairman’s Progress Report,” which contains the findings of its draft partial report on the flood control scandal.

It includes the preliminary investigation of three incumbent senators allegedly involved and the “menu” of possible criminal cases that may be filed against them and other individuals.

According to Lacson, the draft report remains pending for sponsorship since only seven members have signed it, still short of the nine signatures needed to bring it to the plenary.

READ: Lacson: Partial flood control report gains 7 of 9 required signatures

Those who signed the report were Lacson, chairman of the committee, Sens. Risa Hontiveros, Bam Aquino, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, brothers Erwin and Raffy Tulfo, and Senate President  Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.

“Since getting the required majority signatures for this representation to be able to report out on the floor, your BRC’s Partial Committee Report on the flood control saga seems doomed from the time we first routed the same last February 11, 2026, I am compelled to stand before you on a matter of personal and collective privilege, and for good reasons,” Lacson said in a privilege speech.

One of the recommendations in the partial report was to subject several lawmakers to preliminary investigation, though Lacson acknowledged “that the passage of time since the preparation of the report has overtaken certain aspects of these recommendations.”

But the senator stressed, it “does not weaken the report.”

He cited the criminal cases that have been filed before the Sandiganbayan against former and incumbent public officials, contractors and private individuals linked to the anomalous projects.

“By the time the report is released, the committee’s recommendations and findings are already being carried out,” Lacson said in Filipino.

Notably, the senator did not name in the speech the lawmakers whom he proposed to be subjected to the preliminary investigation.

But a “menu” of possible criminal charges that he presented on the Senate floor showed several lists of individuals, including incumbent Sens. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Joel Villanueva, Jinggoy Estrada, former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.,  former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, and former House appropriations committee chairman Zaldy Co.

The names of the six former and incumbent lawmakers were listed for either preliminary or fact-finding investigation, or case build-up for possible violations of direct bribery, anti-graft  and corrupt practices, and even plunder.

“Depending on the evidence, the prosecutors will determine the appropriate charges based on their own assessment of the evidence already submitted and those that will still be submitted by the committee, as well as other evidence they may gather during the case build-up process at the Department of Justice, or during fact-finding and preliminary investigation if the case is with the Ombudsman,” Lacson explained in Filipino.

“Mr. President, this report is a referral-and-reform package,” he went on. “It’s simple: investigate it legally, determine what happened, recover what can still be recovered, and amend the law—so that Filipinos are not doubly burdened, paying both in taxes and in the devastation caused by floods,” he added.

According to him, evidence on record exposed a “systemic and parasitic” greed behind the anomalous flood control projects, which the senator dubbed the largest corruption scandal in Philippine history.

“Testimonies and documents reveal that a wide range of public officials, from legislators to frontline officials, as well as private sector co-conspirators, were complicit in various ways, either by approving dubious projects, signing off on “ghost projects,” or failing to enforce procurement and performance standards and accountability safeguards,”  said the senator.

According to Lacson, other findings of the committee also showed the following:

• The flood control scandal did not stem from a shortage of funds. Instead, the scale of funding, coupled with weak internal controls and criminally complicit oversight, made the sector an attractive target for systematic plunder of the public treasury, effectively leaving citizens exposed to a deluge of misery.

• The anatomy of the flood control anomaly is inherently parasitic, characterized by a network of actors spanning the highest levels of authority. It exploited an institutionalized workflow deeply entrenched within the bureaucracy, employing mechanisms so brazen and gross that they either compromise, recruit, and/or bypass oversight.

The flood control mess represents the evolution of the pork barrel system. In this scheme, corruption takes different forms and names—from congressional “slabs of pork,” now euphemistically rebranded as “allocables,” “leadership funds,” and “insertions”—extending to the Unprogrammed Appropriations under the General Appropriations Act (GAA), Lacson explained.

• The case of the Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office serves as a “microcosm of this systemic rot.” It provides a blueprint for how flood control funds are diverted, revealing the interconnected systems that facilitate corruption.

Lacson said the dire consequences of this institutionalized plunder “are not merely financial.”

“They are felt in the structural erosion of our democratic institutions, the profound disenfranchisement of the Filipino people, and the tearing of the moral fiber of the country,” he added.

Lacson earlier said that he would resume the flood control probe after he reports the Chairman’s Progress Report to the plenary. /mcm