Sen. Ping Lacson dragged the Discayas in Taguig “ghost project”
Senator Ping Lacson questioned a flood control project in Taguig City in which the submitted grid coordinates are located in Tacloban City, Leyte, almost 600 kilometers away from Metro Manila.
Lacson exposed potential irregularities tied to P2.385 billion in flood mitigation and slope infrastructure funding in Taguig City from the 2025 national budget.
The name of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano was dragged into this, but her strongly denied the accusations, dismissing them as a politically motivated “demolition job”.
Just recently, Sen. Ping Lacson revealed the controversial geotag to refute the position of the Department of Public Works and Highways that there are no “ghost” projects in Taguig, the stronghold of Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.
In posts on his X (Twitter) account on Sunday, Lacson mentioned a report about a project in Taguig with Contract ID 220B0106, where geotagged photos attached to billing reports have coordinates “located approximately 600 kilometers away in Leyte Province,” while its contractor is a company owned by the Discaya family, based on the report from Abante.
In the Senator’s findings, this was stated: “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 highlighted the project’s connection to St. Timothy Construction, a company owned by the Discayas that has been linked to controversial flood control projects.
Lacson also cited the project’s financial billing documents, which show that the 15% advance payment of P13,738,755.81 was released on June 23, 2022, where all the attached billing photographs have coordinates in Tacloban City, Leyte.
The first partial billing amounting to P37.162 million is dated July 27, 2022 but does not include any images. The second partial billing amounting to P19.174 million, and dated September 12, 2022, includes images but no coordinates.
The third partial billing amounting to P21.202 million and dated September 22, 2022 also has attached images without coordinates. The fourth and final billing amounting to P18.960 million and dated February 22, 2023 also has attached images without coordinates.
