A video circulating online claims that Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson has confessed to delivering kickbacks from flood control projects to former undersecretaries Trygve Olaivar and Adrian Bersamin, who have been implicated in the 2025 budget insertion controversy. This is false.
First published by a TikTok user on March 22, the 35-second video spliced two separate clips of former Quezon City representative Mike Defensor and Lacson with this supposed exchange:
“Defensor: Ito naman nanggaling na ‘to kay Sen. Ping Lacson
Lacson: Naghatid ako ng pera as kickback, but not to the president, but to Usec. Olaivar and ang sabi niya, ang pagkakaalam niya, kasama si Usec. Adrian Bersamin. Eight billion pesos, Mr. President, in at least 10 deliveries
(Defensor: This came from Senator Ping Lacson
Lacson: I delivered money as kickbacks, but not to the president, but to Usec. Olaivar, and he said, to his knowledge, including Usec. Adrian Bersamin. Eight billion pesos, Mr. President, in at least 10 deliveries).”
Two other netizens reposted the video on Facebook on the same day and on March 23. Another FB page reshared the clip with the superimposed text:
“Aminado si Lacson, nakapag-deliver siya ng kickback kaya pala ayaw ipatawag ang 18 marine may maleta rin pala natanggap si Pinky
(Lacson has admitted, he was able to deliver a kickback, that’s why he didn’t want to summon the 18 marines, Pinky also received a suitcase).”
This is not true. In the full clip, which was taken from a Senate session on Nov. 18, 2025, Lacson was actually quoting the testimony of former Public Works undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, who told the senator that he delivered billions of kickbacks to Olaivar and Bersamin.
The senator said it was the two ex-undersecretaries, not President Ferdinand Marcos, who received kickbacks from the P100-billion insertions in the 2025 national budget, disputing the claims of former Ako Bicol Party-list representative Zaldy Co.
The spliced video surfaced two days after the March 19 press conference of Defensor during which he said Lacson should invite Olaivar and Bersamin to answer questions on the flood control corruption scandal. Defensor’s clip in the spliced video was taken from the conference and was presented out of context.
The video, posted by a TikTok user, has so far garnered 12,000 views; 420 likes; 19 comments; and 50 shares. Other copies published by the page Dragon TV and two other Facebook users have collectively received 357,000 views; 15,598 reactions; 1,647 comments; and 8,204 shares as of writing.
