It all goes back to the lawmakers.

For Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, the whole flood control projects mess could have been avoided if only senators and congressmen had not made budget insertions into district engineering offices of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Meaning, there would have been no funds to meddle with in the first place.

Lacson, who chairs the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigating the corruption behind the anomalous flood control projects in the country, said that having studied the flow of how this all began, it's clear that it originated from budget insertions.

According to him, it would be difficult to identify the proponents behind the previous budget insertions, as there are no minutes or records of their involvement.

"Ang talagang pinag-ugatan lawmakers eh (The real root cause is the lawmakers)," he said in a radio interview over DWIZ on Saturday, Sept. 20.

"Kasi diyan nagsimula yung pagpapakawala ng pondo eh na umabot na nga sa sukdulan hanggang sa pati yung ating Saligang Batas naviolate na kasi tumaas pa yung pondo DPWH kaysa sa education sector (Because that’s where the release of funds began, which eventually reached the point where even our Constitution was violated, since the DPWH budget ended up exceeding that of the education sector)," he said.

He further stated that it's because their favored connections are already in the DPWH, and what they’ve been earning over the years wasn’t enough — they still wanted to add more to increase their profits.

Lacson said that he's also in favor of removing the unprogrammed funds for the 2026 national budget, which Senate Finance Committee chair Senator Sherwin Gatchalian described as the new pork barrel.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) describes unprogrammed appropriations as those that provide stand-by authority to incur additional agency obligations for priority programs or projects when revenue collection exceeds targets, and when additional grants or foreign funds are generated.

In the recent hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon panel, Lacson confirmed that ₱600 million was allocated for Bulacan flood control projects in the 2023 unprogrammed budget. This amount matched what former DPWH Bulacan Assistant Engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez cited in his testimony, which he first floated in the House Infrastructure Committee (infra comm) inquiry where he said there that in 2023, Senator Joel Villanueva released P600 million and received a 30 percent "SOP" or kickback.

Lacson has earlier said that the burden of proof now lies with Hernandez. He was granted a 12-hour release from Senate detention to collect evidence to substantiate his claim.

"A criminal offense would arise if Brice Hernandez can prove his allegation that he gave a 30 percent kickback. If he can present supporting evidence for his testimony, there would indeed be grounds — at the very least for the ICI to investigate further and pursue the case," Lacson said in Filipino.

"At kung makakita ng prima facie [evidence] o kaya probable cause, pwede magsampa ng kaso sa Ombudsman muna then eventually sa Sandiganbayan (And if a prima facie evidence or probable cause is found, a case can first be filed with the Ombudsman and eventually with the Sandiganbayan)," he added.

According to Lacson, Hernandez must provide, for example, a ledger, notes, or any other kind of evidence to substantiate his allegation that he gave this amount to a certain person.

Then, he needs to present that proof — it cannot just be an allegation without any supporting evidence.