MANILA—Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson has asked Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon to explain why geotagged photographs for a Taguig City project contained coordinates pointing to Leyte province.

Lacson raised the issue citing findings in the DPWH’s own inspection report that he said appeared to contradict Dizon’s claim that there were no ghost projects in Taguig.

In posts on X, Lacson identified the project under Contract ID 220B0106 and questioned how photographs submitted as part of its billing documents could contain coordinates about 600 kilometers away from the reported project site.

“Sec. Vince Dizon, please explain how this finding of your own team should not be flagged as a ghost project in Taguig. (Since when has Taguig been located in Leyte?)” Lacson said.

The DPWH finding cited by Lacson states:

“Geotagged Photographs attached to Billing Reports contained coordinates pointing outside verified project limits. (e.g. metadata of Contract ID 220B0106 reflected coordinates located approximately 600 kilometers away in LEYTE PROVINCE.)”

Lacson also pointed to the project’s contractor, St. Timothy Construction, which he identified as a company owned by the Discayas, who have been linked to controversial flood control projects.

“To further highlight the red flag, Discaya’s St Timothy ang contractor (St. Timothy Construction is the contractor). What do you say about this, Sec?” he said.

The project’s billing records, according to Lacson, showed that a 15% advance payment worth ₱13,738,755.81 was released on June 23, 2022. He said all photographs attached to the advance payment documents contained coordinates pointing to Tacloban City, Leyte.

The first partial billing, worth ₱37.162 million and dated July 27, 2022, had no photograph attached. The second billing, worth ₱19.174 million and dated September 12, 2022, contained photographs without coordinates.

The third partial billing, amounting to ₱21.202 million and dated September 22, 2022, also had photographs without coordinates. The fourth and final billing, worth ₱18.960 million and dated February 22, 2023, likewise contained photographs without coordinates.

Lacson said the DPWH inspection report found that the coordinates from the geotagged photographs attached to the progress and final billings did not match the actual project location verified during the inspection.

The senator raised the issue after Dizon said Friday that there were no ghost projects in Taguig City.

Dizon made the statement during a subcommittee hearing on the DPWH’s proposed 2027 budget, when Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano asked whether ghost projects existed in Taguig, his bailiwick.

Lacson said Dizon’s statement appeared inconsistent with findings in the DPWH’s site inspection reports. He also expressed sympathy for the agency’s site inspection engineers, saying their findings had been contradicted by their own superior.

Lacson said Dizon’s recollection may have been affected by the “pressure” of his work, noting that the DPWH had turned over to his Senate office records involving projects described as “nonexistent but reported as completed.”

He also cited results from the DPWH’s “Analysis of Potential Similar Billing Photographs from 2017-2025 of Taguig projects using AI-Based Image Similarity Detection Approach.”

According to the data cited by Lacson, the AI system processed 15,523 images and flagged 1,079 pairs for high visual similarity.

Lacson and his team had earlier submitted at least 45 case studies to the Office of the Ombudsman involving alleged “systemic anomalies” in flood control projects in Taguig. The Ombudsman has since started a fact-finding investigation into the matter.