PASAY CITY, Philippines — The camp of detained Senator Jinggoy Estrada defended the extensive stripping of his former Senate office on Tuesday, clarifying that the removed fixtures were bought with personal funds after Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson poked fun at the bare room turned over to Senate President Pro Tempore Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.
Lacson sparked online chatter after sharing an AI-generated image depicting Sotto working inside a dimly lit, empty room with minimal furniture.
“Poor Senate President Pro Tempore Tito Sotto. Naka-monobloc table and chair at lampara na lang. Mistulang ‘barebones’ ang bago niyang opisina,” Lacson said in his social media post.
“Binaklas kasi lahat ng dating occupant – from the floor tiles, walls and cabinets to the toilet fixtures and wall outlets – inubos,” he added.
Reports revealed that the room previously occupied by Estrada—who faces plunder charges over alleged flood control project kickbacks—had been left stripped of floor tiles, wall outlets, cabinets, and bathroom fixtures.
Addressing the controversy, Estrada’s chief of staff, Atty. Racquel Mejia, stated that Sotto’s team had been informed ahead of the October 5 turnover deadline that materials would be transferred to Estrada’s newly assigned office.
The statement noted that Senate renovation budgets are often limited, prompting senators to pay out-of-pocket for major upgrades.
“It bears noting that standard practice in the Senate is for the senator occupying an office to renovate the space based on the budget provided, with any expense beyond that shouldered entirely by the occupant,” Estrada’s office said.
Estrada’s camp stressed that no public funds were wasted, as the salvaged items—including glass panels, tiles, and light fixtures—would be reinstalled in his new workspace, an arrangement already communicated to the Commission on Audit (COA).
They added that the office was similarly bare when Estrada acquired it in 2022, noting that such dismantling is a routine practice in the upper chamber.
Appealing for an end to the issue, the senator’s office urged that the routine administrative transfer not be “unnecessarily politicized, sensationalized, or made into a manufactured controversy.”