Ping hopes Marcos Jr. won’t waver vs corruption

MANILA, Philippines — Amid perceptions that the anti-corruption crackdown is losing steam, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson yesterday urged President Marcos not to waver in the fight against graft.

Lacson expressed hope that Marcos would not lose his momentum after his 2025 State of the Nation Address (SONA) emark against the “shameless” perpetrators of flood control corruption.

“I hope the President will not waver in his remaining years in office. I thought the momentum was already on his side with his famous ‘Mahiya naman kayo’ SONA remark,” Lacson said.

“Unfortunately, the Filipino people’s perception has not been kind to him, as what the latest surveys have indicated,” Lacson added, referring to latest surveys showing the President’s declining trust and approval ratings since the flood control mess.

The senator called for a more intensified crackdown on corruption in 2026, as he looked forward to helping the administration go after those who lined their pockets with public funds.

Lacson said he was grateful for winning the Senate race in the May 2025 midterm elections, as he vowed to continue his campaign against corruption and his scrutiny of the national budget.

“On a personal note, I thank 2025 for bringing me back all my staff that I left behind in 2022, plus a few assets more,” the senator said as he looked back on the past year.

“With renewed tenacity and hard work, I am even more encouraged to expose more corruption issues that are similar to what has become the most blatant and unprecedented misuse and abuse of the national budget since I left the Senate three years ago,” he said.

Lacson led the Blue Ribbon committee probe on the alleged kickbacks scheme from ghost or substandard flood control projects, which unjustly enriched corrupt contractors, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials and lawmaker-proponents with taxpayers’ money.

The flood control mess put the spotlight on discretionary budget allotments as early as during the crafting of the National Expenditure Program (NEP), allegedly by executive department officials who endorsed pet projects as an alleged source of commissions.
Lacson has claimed former public works secretary Manuel Bonoan and a former executive secretary had P30.5 billion and P8.3 billion in respective “allocables” in the 2025 national budget.

They are among the five Cabinet members who allegedly exerted influence in the crafting of the budget for their “allocable” projects.

Allocable refers to this alleged NEP pork barrel, or a budget ceiling for proponents’ pet projects and a source of their kickbacks.

Bersamin has denied Lacson’s allegation, which was based on the documents left to probers by former DPWH undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral before her apparent suicide.

Lacson said he is looking forward to continuing his Blue Ribbon probe this year with his fellow anti-corruption officials in government, fueled by public furor over rampant public works corruption.

“I am looking forward to being actively involved again, along with my team of like-minded individuals, with renewed vigor and courage to contribute our share in informing the public through our investigations and research work in ways we know best,” Lacson said.

“With a more awakened and angrier citizenry who have never been exposed before to more detailed acts of corruption and plunder of their hard-earned tax money, our national leaders have to brace themselves to address more corruption issues in 2026,” he added.