MANILA — Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson on Saturday called on the public to remain vigilant and non-violent in expressing outrage over corruption in flood control projects, following the issuance of arrest warrants against former Congressman Elizaldy Co and several others.

Lacson said the government — particularly Malacañang, the Office of the Ombudsman, and the Department of Justice — must maintain pressure to prevent those involved from feeling emboldened to repeat their actions.

“I don’t want public outrage to lessen, so long as people remain non-violent. If public anger diminishes, government might slacken their efforts. As of now, they are working because of the pressure from our people. But this is so long as the outrage does not turn violent, like the Sept. 21 protest where some protesters damaged some traffic lights,” he said in Filipino in an interview on DWIZ radio.

He stressed the need to see the investigation through to a logical conclusion, including prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment.

“No matter how many, no matter how long it takes, get to the bottom to achieve the logical conclusion,” he added.

Lacson noted that the recent actions by the Ombudsman and the national government have shown progress, contradicting claims by some critics that Co was untouchable.

Reports of Co being sighted in Japan indicate that Interpol is monitoring his movements. He can be arrested once a copy of his warrant reaches the agency. “He has to ride a plane and pass through immigration, so he can be tracked. He just cannot be arrested as of now because he is not yet on the Interpol’s red notice list since they have no copy of his arrest warrant. Still, he’s on their radar,” Lacson said.

Should Co be returned to the Philippines, he could face the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, though the committee must respect the sub judice principle if the case has already reached the Sandiganbayan.

Lacson also cited the scale of the alleged corruption, referencing officials including ex-undersecretaries Adrian Bersamin and Trygve Olaivar, who allegedly inserted P100 billion into the 2025 budget without President Marcos’ knowledge. He said similar manipulations occurred in 2024, including the diversion of P50 billion from unprogrammed appropriations, with P30 billion allocated for flood control projects alone.

“The DBM caused the release of that amount, possibly in coordination with the Office of the Executive Secretary,” Lacson said. “From what I know, they got away with it so they were emboldened to try it again in 2025.”

He added that the number of individuals potentially implicated in the anomaly could exceed 2,000, surpassing the 1,200 initially estimated by Independent Commission for Infrastructure Commissioner Rogelio Singson, which was based only on 420 suspected ghost projects out of 8,000 inspected. During the last Blue Ribbon hearing, the number of suspected ghost projects rose to about 472.

“It’s so widespread that not just 1,200 could be implicated. It could be 2,000 or more,” Lacson said.