Sen. Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson hit back at the Taguig City government’s claim that a video he posted showing alleged illegal reclamation in the city was ‘curated.’
According to the senator, the footage came directly from the government inspection team.
‘Curated my foot!’ he said Monday in a post on X.
‘How can a raw video taken on site and sent to my office by the inspection team in Lakeshore area of the Taguig side of Laguna Lake be misleading?’ he added.
Lacson was responding to the Taguig City government’s statement on Saturday that the area shown in the video he posted did not involve land presently possessed or used by the city.
In its Saturday statement, the Taguig City government accused Lacson of presenting a ‘misleading narrative’ by linking the inspection footage to allegations of illegal reclamation and ‘impunity.’
The city government also said the property was being claimed by several private individuals and a neighborhood association, and that it did not issue any permit or authority to the alleged private owners.
Lacson, however, cited another video from the inspection team that he said showed personnel of Barangay Tanyag in Taguig dumping garbage in the area.
‘Paanong hindi alam ng LGU, eh LGU mismo ang nagtatambak? Kung private contractors as alleged, dapat investigate lalo kasi government resources ang ginagamit pag reclaim sa pagtambak ng basura,’ he said.
(How can the LGU say it did not know, when the LGU itself was the one doing the dumping? If private contractors are involved as alleged, all the more the city government must investigate because government resources were used to reclaim the land through the dumping of garbage.)
Lacson on Friday posted a 25-second video showing an inspection team looking over the Taguig Lakeshore area, where garbage could also be seen being dumped.
The inspection team was composed of representatives from the Office of the Ombudsman, Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA), Land Registration Authority (LRA), and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
In the footage, one inspector could be heard asking whether the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) had personnel monitoring the area.
Lacson’s scrutiny of Taguig, the political stronghold of the Cayetanos, was prompted by his ongoing word war with Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.