MANILA, Philippines — Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Monday welcomed Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon’s clarification that an investigation into questionable flood-control projects in Taguig City remains ongoing, while maintaining that authorities must not dismiss the possibility of “ghost” infrastructure.
Lacson argued that preliminary findings from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) cannot establish that a project was non-existent, nor should they be used to conclude that no ghost projects were executed.
”Thank you, Sec. Vince, for the clarification. I agree that preliminary inspection findings on several questionable flood control projects in Taguig—such as those on St. Timothy’s slope protection project—do not automatically prove a project was ‘ghosted,’ but we also cannot definitively conclude that no ‘ghost projects’ exist,” Lacson said in a social media post.
Dizon’s clarification followed remarks made during a Senate subcommittee hearing on the DPWH’s proposed 2027 budget, where he stated that the agency found no ghost projects in Taguig.
Dizon explained that flagged projects were submitted in an initial report to the Office of the Ombudsman, with the department awaiting the Ombudsman’s final report and action.
Lacson challenged Dizon’s earlier assertion, citing site inspection reports compiled by DPWH personnel from the Bureaus of Maintenance, Quality and Safety, Construction, and Research and Standards.
The reports indicated that several flood control structures were logged as finished even though inspectors could not physically verify them, in some instances because newer developments had built over the reported sites.
The senator also pointed to a DPWH AI-driven image-similarity system analysis that scanned 15,523 billing photographs from Taguig infrastructure contracts between 2017 and 2025. The system flagged 1,079 highly similar photo pairs spread across 180 unique contracts.
Highlighting a specific case, Lacson singled out the ₱96.5-million “Slope Protection along Taguig River Project” under Contract ID 220B0106, awarded to St. Timothy Construction Corporation—a firm owned by government contractors Sarah and Curlee Discaya.
According to Lacson, geotagged photographs attached to the project’s billing papers pinpointed coordinates in Tacloban City, Leyte, approximately 600 kilometers away from Taguig.
Lacson characterized the St. Timothy project as the most “brazen and telling” example among roughly 68 red-flagged projects identified by DPWH inspectors.
Lacson and his team have submitted 45 case studies supported by official documents to the Office of the Ombudsman to allege systemic anomalies in Taguig’s flood control projects, prompting a fact-finding inquiry.
His team also provided evidence regarding alleged illegal land reclamation and construction along Taguig’s portion of Laguna Lake.
Additionally, Lacson cautioned Dizon that any attempt to cover up irregularities in Taguig infrastructure projects could subject those involved to criminal charges.