Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo "Ping" Lacson said on Tuesday, Dec. 23, that due to security concerns, there will be no holiday furlough for contractor Pacifico "Curlee" Discaya II and three former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineers detained at the Senate in connection with the flood control projects corruption scandal.

Lacson, who also chairs the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that is probing the issue, said Senate President Vicente Sotto III approved his recommendation to deny the leave requests of Discaya and former engineers Brice Hernandez, Jaypee Mendoza, and Henry Alcantara.

"I recommended to the Senate President that their request for Christmas furlough be denied mainly for security reasons, owing to the repeated media statements from Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that arrest warrants against them will be issued before Christmas," Lacson said.

"So the risk of escape becomes greater - not to mention that it makes no sense to grant such requests for Christmas leave if indeed warrants are coming out by then," he added.

Discaya and the former DPWH engineers were detained at the Senate after being cited in contempt by the Blue Ribbon Committee for refusing to cooperate in its flood control project investigation. Alcantara sought a holiday leave through the Department of Justice (DOJ), Lacson noted.

Lacson said Sotto approved his recommendation. He noted that he will only allow the four to hear mass at the Senate, and that their families may visit them although no activities outside the Senate premises would be allowed.

"That’s the most that we can allow given the circumstances," Lacson said in agreeing with Sotto's decision.

Meanwhile, Lacson expressed hopes that the Office of the Ombudsman can make good on its publicly stated timelines to file charges against those found responsible before the Sandiganbayan and other venues, if only to send a clear message that they cannot get away with stealing Filipinos' hard-earned taxes.

He noted this should also help discourage "incorrigible" members who remain unfazed by the public's anger over corruption and scrutiny of the 2026 budget measure, as well as his and like-minded colleagues' efforts to rid the budget of "pork" and self-aggrandizing "insertions".

The senator is hopeful that the Office of the Ombudsman can make good on their publicly stated timelines to file the information before the Sandiganbayan and other venues, assuming that probable cause is clearly established against those responsible for the plunder of public funds, "if only to strike fear" among those who still entertain the idea that they can get away with stealing our citizens’ hard-earned tax money.

"Especially now that the 2026 budget measure remains under public scrutiny in spite of our efforts to cleanse the same of 'pork' and self-aggrandizing 'insertions' possibly orchestrated by some incorrigible members of Congress," he added.