Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo "Ping" Lacson has described the flood control project scandal as worse than the pork barrel scam, citing it as reason why he is committed to release his report on its investigations next week.

Lacson, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that led the probe into one of the biggest corruption issues to hit the country, said any efforts to block the release of their findings will fail even as some lawmakers are refusing to sign the report.

"I called the flood control scandal 'Napoles 2' but this is much worse and it's no laughing matter," he said in a mix of English and Filipino in an interview over DZMM.

The former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief was referring to Janet Lim-Napoles, the mastermind of the Priority Development Assistance Fund—or simply pork barrel—scam in 2010.

Lacson has warned that Filipinos "are angry and will not forget the issue" and stressed it will take "decades" before it goes away from the country's memory.

"As Blue Ribbon Chairman I owe it to the Filipino people to update them on what happened after seven to eight hearings," he said.

"This is because many are not updated and especially because there are false narratives being spread that we are covering up for some persons and targeting others. And another compelling reason is that the partial committee report's contents have been overtaken by events," he added.

Lacson said while the Blue Ribbon Committee had prepared a partial report last February containing its findings up to that point, it could not get the needed signatures to be reported out and sponsored in plenary.

He says that while he respects the positions of senators who did not sign the partial report, he disagrees with their reasoning that they have disagreements with portions of the partial report.

"It is our duty as members of committees, not just the Blue Ribbon Committee, to sign a committee report and indicate whether we will interpellate, will amend, have reservations or will submit a separate report or opinion. We should not refuse to sign just to block the report from reaching the plenary," he said.

Lacson said he may deliver his privilege speech on May 4 or 5 where he would present the chairman's progress report containing the panel's findings on the flood control scandal. He noted the privilege speech may also contain other documents or pieces of evidence not tackled in the previous hearings.

Once the privilege speech is delivered, he says he may share the contents of the progress report with other agencies including the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Ombudsman in their case build-up.

This will also pave the way for the resumption of hearings on the matter. Lacson said he plans to invite, among others, lawmakers including former House Speaker Leyte 1st district Rep. Martin Romualdez.