SENATOR Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson on Saturday disclosed a P5-million “allocation fund” offer from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), which he said was made through his Senate staff earlier this week.
Lacson, who unequivocally rejected the offer, said he will seek clarification on the matter when the proposed 2027 budget of the agency comes up for plenary debate in the Senate in November.
“When TESDA’s proposed 2027 budget comes up for plenary debate, I will seek clarification on the ₱5-million fund offer made to me through my Senate staff early this week. I declined unequivocally,” Lacson said.
He posted on his X account screenshots of the allocation fund offer, purportedly from TESDA Secretary and Director General Jose Francisco Benitez, and made through a certain “Stephanie.”
Lacson said he initially considered an entrapment or sting operation against the ones who made the offer, but took pity on “Stephanie,” who he said appeared to be just following instructions.
“Maybe they thought I’m ‘standard practice.’ They didn’t know me. Now they do. Initially, I considered entrapment, but I took pity on Stephanie who apparently was only following instructions,” he said.
Lacson earlier said the Senate will scrutinize the House-approved version of the 2027 budget bill, and address the red flags there – including those affecting Foreign-Assisted Projects (FAPs).
Also, he said the Senate is considering cutting some P2 billion from its proposed 2027 budget in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) to set an example of fiscal discipline for the House of Representatives, particularly in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down certain provisions of the 2024 and 2025 budgets as unconstitutional.
Lacson has consistently rejected “pork” in all its forms, as well as bribe offers a.k.a. lobby money in exchange for voting for or against a legislative measure and in the conduct of inquiries in aid of legislation.
In 2025, he bared the existence of “allocables,” which he described as the new pork barrel, as they allowed the funding of projects before they are identified.
At the time, he said their initial scrutiny showed that in the 2025 national budget, the House leadership got P143.5 billion in allocables. Even party lists and “non-legislators” got allocables as well.
The allocables were removed from the Senate’s version of the 2026 General Appropriations Bill.
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