MANILA – Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson lamented that corruption in the government’s infrastructure program has become so widespread that it may be easier to identify officials who are not guilty than those who are.

Lacson made the remark after reviewing “classified” documents from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) with his staff, which he earlier flagged for systematic anomalies in flood control projects.

“Reviewing the piles of ‘classified’ DPWH documents which I shared with my staff, we all wondered aloud if the more appropriate question to ask is, ‘Who is not?’ rather than, ‘Who is guilty?’ So sad to realize how widely corrupt our government infrastructure program has gone,” Lacson said in a post on X.

He cited DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon’s initial findings showing that at least 421 out of some 8,000 flood control projects inspected by the DPWH, Department of Economy, Planning and Development, Philippine National Police, and Armed Forces of the Philippines were “ghost” projects.

Lacson also referred to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian’s disclosure that more than ₱10 billion worth of farm-to-market roads funded under the 2023 and 2024 national budgets were “extremely overpriced,” with one project costing 23 times more than the standard rate set by the DPWH and others marked up by as much as 70 percent.

In his previous privilege speeches, Lacson exposed how some DPWH officials allegedly pocketed public funds and gambled taxpayers’ money in casinos. He also detailed alleged money-making schemes involving junior personnel in the department.

Lacson said the evidence gathered from his speeches and the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearings had been turned over to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure and the Department of Justice for prosecution.

He reiterated the need for prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment of those involved, stressing that there must be “certainty of punishment.”

Although he has resigned as chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, Lacson said this will not stop his campaign against corruption in the government.