“The message is clear, Filipinos will not stand for corruption,” Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Monday, Sept. 22.
Lacson was reacting to the nationwide anti-corruption rallies on Sunday that drew thousands of protestors.
“Now, it’s really up to Congress to do its part because all of this emanated from the 2025 budget, where insertions were found,” he said.
“To make matters worse, in many cases these insertions were done for ghost projects”, he added.
“That’s why we now realize how much money the country has, only for it to be thrown away,” the governor added.
Lacson said he agrees with Bacolod Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, who stated that “the people have spoken very loud and clear, so it’s now up to Congress to do its part.”
The governor stressed that such insertions and ghost projects “should not happen again.”
“For those who were part of this grand scheme to steal money, you will have to be answerable for that,” he warned.
“People were expecting another Napoles, but what’s shocking is that while we thought P10 billion was big before, it’s petty cash compared to the amount we hear has been stolen from Filipino taxpayers,” he said, referencing the scale of the alleged corruption.
Janet Lim-Napoles is a businesswoman who is widely regarded as the mastermind behind the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam, also known as the “pork barrel scam” in 2013,
Rep. Manuel Frederick Ko (Abang Lingkod Partylist) on Monday also stressed the need for accountability.
Meanwhile, Lacson clarified that the Capitol Lagoon and Park in Bacolod City was closed on Sunday for maintenance because they had received information about a planned gathering outside the park.
“We have a provincial ordinance prohibiting political and religious rallies at the lagoon,” he explained.
“To avoid any misunderstanding, I decided to have it closed because there was no formal letter informing the province that they would gather in the lagoon area.”
He added that the organizers of a previous Iglesia ni Kristo rally held at the park had properly submitted a request.*
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