Lacson to investigate P5M allocation fund allegedly offered by Tesda

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Saturday revealed that he “unequivocally” turned down a P5-million worth of allocation fund allegedly offered by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).

Lacson said that he will seek an explanation on the matter when the Senate debates on Tesda’s proposed budget for 2027 in the plenary in November.

READ: Tesda: 230,000 scholarship slots may be cut in 2027 due to budget slash

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“When TESDA’s proposed 2027 budget comes up for plenary debate, I will seek clarification on the P5-million fund offer made to me through my Senate staff early this week,” the senator said in a post in X, formerly Twitter.

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“I declined unequivocally,” he emphasized.

He revealed in his personal account the screenshots of the offer being made allegedly by the office of Tesda Secretary and Director General Jose Francisco “Kiko” Benitez through a certain ‘Stephanie.’

Lacson said that he considered conducting an entrapment or sting operation to uncover the people who made the offer.

“Maybe they thought I’m ‘standard practice.’ They didn’t know me. Now they do,” he said.

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However, the lawmaker did not push through with the plan because, “I took pity on Stephanie who apparently was only following instructions,” he explained.

The Senate second regular session will resume on November 9.

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Lacson previously said that he will scrutinize the P7.2-trillion budget bill for 2027 passed by the House, as well as consider proposing some P2-billion budget cuts.

He also mentioned that he seeks to look into the “red flags” in the House-approved version of the budget for next year, including the foreign-assisted projects. /apl