Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Saturday disputed Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon’s statement that the agency found no ghost or non-existent flood control projects in Taguig City.

Lacson said Dizon’s statement contradicted site inspection reports prepared by DPWH personnel who inspected projects in the city.

“Poor Vince Dizon. The ‘pressure’ of work may have clouded his memory. The DPWH already turned over to my Senate office records of nonexistent but reported as completed slope protection projects in Taguig,” Lacson said.

“Like toothpaste squeezed from the tube, there’s no putting it back in,” he added.

Lacson said the reports were submitted by personnel from the DPWH Bureau of Maintenance, Quality and Safety, Construction, and Research and Standards.

His remarks came a day after Dizon told a Senate budget hearing that the DPWH had found no ghost projects in Taguig. Dizon made the statement after Senator Alan Peter Cayetano asked whether the agency’s ongoing investigation had identified any such projects in the city.

Dizon said the investigation was still ongoing, while DPWH Undersecretary Ricardo Bernabe III said the agency had identified 107 projects in Taguig, all of which had reported accomplishments.

Lacson has previously alleged that several flood control and slope protection projects in Taguig were anomalous or nonexistent. In August, he said his team had identified 32 allegedly anomalous flood control projects in the city.

The senator has also linked some DPWH projects to alleged unauthorized reclamation along the Taguig side of Laguna Lake, an issue that has prompted government action and remains under investigation.