MANILA — Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said senators elected in the May 2025 elections were not among those alleged to have made budget insertions in the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) 2025 budget, contrary to claims made by Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste.

Lacson said the records cited by Leviste, which supposedly showed senators’ insertions amounting to ₱120 billion, referred to the 2025 national budget approved by the 19th Congress, months before the May midterm elections.

“Congressman Leviste should at least qualify his statement with the phrase ‘in the 19th Congress’ in fairness to the new members of the 20th Congress, including myself and Senate President Vicente Sotto III, among others,” Lacson said.

“That said, even during the previous Congresses, I never partook of allocables or pork barrel allocations, or whatever names they were called,” he added.

Lacson, a known critic of the pork barrel system, was among the 12 senators elected last May who assumed office on June 30, along with Sotto. He said this meant he could not have participated in the preparation of the 2025 national budget, including the DPWH budget.

Leviste earlier said in a radio interview that senators made ₱120 billion worth of insertions in the DPWH’s 2025 budget, citing documents he obtained from the late DPWH Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral.

Lacson also said Leviste mentioned that his mother, Sen. Loren Legarda, was listed as having project insertions, although Leviste quoted her as saying she had no knowledge of the projects allegedly attributed to her.