Lacson to Cayetano: You belong in prison

Senators Panfilo Lacson (left) and Alan Peter Cayetano —File photo MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo Lacson was not done replying to the allegations made by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano against him, saying on Sunday that the former Senate president belongs in the New Quezon City Jail for corruption. Lacson stressed that his integrity was his “first and last line of defense,” adding that Cayetano “crossed the line by attacking it.” “As of this morning, I’m still counting informants and witnesses, directly or through intermediaries, willing to provide information and evidence to put him in his proper place—the Payatas, QC jail.” Lacson wrote in a post on X. Article continues after this advertisement READ: NBI on Cayetano: Position that can’t be defended by facts is done with insults On Saturday morning, Cayetano claimed on Facebook live that the net worth of Lacson and Sen. Erwin Tulfo had increased twofold. Lacson promptly clapped back at him, saying his earnings did not just double but, in fact, quadrupled. “The net worth in my SALN did not double in 2025 compared to 2022 when I left the Senate. Actually, the increase is more than four times at P244.9M compared to P50.7M in 2022 – the year I left government,” Lacson said also on X. Nothing illegal But he stressed that his earnings were made legitimately through real estate deals and other businesses. Lacson further said that Cayetano was responsible for P6.79 billion in budget insertions under the 2025 national budget, unlike him, who has never made budgetary insertions since he became a senator. Article continues after this advertisement READ: Palace slams Cayetano over rejected P10,000 ‘ayuda’ proposal claim He added that there were also “ghost” projects in Taguig City, Cayetano’s bailiwick. Article continues after this advertisement “Out of his P6.79B budget insertions under the 2025 GAA [General Appropriations Act], 68 out of the 70 projects were implemented. So, only 2 projects, equivalent to around P75M are left unreleased or unobligated. In short, a total of P6.715B ang nagastos [was spent]. While you do the math, we will keep digging,” Lacson said. Cayetano reacts Responding to Lacson’s allegations, Cayetano said there were no ghost projects in Taguig City, adding that the Office of the Ombudsman had said so in an interview in 2025. “There are no ghost projects in Taguig. And if you can show us something, they will be held accountable. But when we followed the government funds, the projects were there,” he said. Cayetano then dared Lacson to also look at other highly urbanized cities like Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Makati and Parañaque and not just single out Taguig because of their feud. “I’m not saying there’s a problem with those cities. What I’m saying is Senator Lacson needs to show that he’s not just annoyed with one person,” he said. “Because how did we get here … they say, this person should be locked up. How did we get there? You don’t like that person so you want to lock him up?” Cayetano said, referring to Lacson’s post on X that he belongs in jail. Malacañang, meanwhile, will present evidence to counter Cayetano’s claim that President Marcos rejected his proposal to distribute P10,000 in cash assistance as part of the government’s post-COVID-19 pandemic response in 2022. Palace press officer Claire Castro on Saturday accused Cayetano of spreading baseless allegations for political gain, noting that not even former President Rodrigo Duterte, the senator’s former running mate in the 2016 national elections, supported his bill pushing for the cash aid. “Why can’t Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano stop himself from creating intrigue and stories without basis?” Castro told reporters in a message. “Instead of pointing to his own failure to perform his job, he blames others just to save himself from embarrassment. The work that he failed to accomplish, he is passing on to others,” she added. Malacañang’s response came after Cayetano claimed in a Facebook livestream on Friday said that Mr. Marcos had thumbed down his proposal to revive the P10,000 “ayuda” or aid for each Filipino family in 2022. Aid backstory After winning a Senate seat in the 2022 elections, Cayetano filed Senate Bill No. 62, or the proposed “Sampung Libong Pagasa Law.” However, it remained pending at the committee level until the 19th Congress ended in 2025. “So, in 2021, heading into 2022, I said that many still hadn’t recovered [from the COVID-19 pandemic], so our budget could afford to provide assistance. But after President Marcos won, he said he didn’t want to support this,” the senator said in a Facebook livestream. Cayetano made the claim a day after Mr. Marcos announced the government would be providing up to P12,000 in cash aid for the next seven months to 7.5 million poor and near-poor families affected by rising fuel prices due to the renewed Middle East crisis. Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Your subscription has been successful. “Why are they giving this amount of assistance only now in 2026? We already know the answer. Or what’s the answer? Well, they stole hundreds of billions before giving them to you, right?” he said. —WITH A REPORT FROM ZACARIAN SARAO