MANILA, Philippines — The congressional district represented by House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos secured the highest public works funding increase among district engineering offices in the House version of the proposed 2027 national budget, a fiscal watchdog reported.
According to the People’s Budget Coalition, nearly ₱4.4 billion was injected into the 1st District Engineering Office of Ilocos Norte over and above the initial executive proposal, pushing its total House-version allocation to approximately ₱4.8 billion.
Kenneth Abante, co-convenor of the coalition, noted that the substantial funding additions mirror previous controversial practices involving unvetted project insertions.
“This is the same modus operandi of the insertions of Speaker Martin Romualdez and Cong Zaldy Co na nagdala po sa atin sa sitwasyong ito. Naginsert ng proyektong walang batayang dokumento,” Abante said.
Aside from Ilocos Norte, significant budget spikes were likewise recorded for district engineering offices in Misamis Occidental, Davao de Oro, Isabela, and South Cotabato.
The watchdog pointed out that these allocations form part of roughly 7,000 newly introduced projects worth about ₱190 billion added by the lower chamber. The insertions encompass ₱172 billion in Department of Public Works and Highways initiatives, nearly ₱6 billion for farm-to-market roads, over ₱7 billion for irrigation systems, and upwards of ₱2 billion for new healthcare facilities.
The coalition previously raised red flags over geographic mapping anomalies, noting that coordinates for several proposed projects appeared to be situated in bodies of water.
While clarifying that the group is not casting blanket allegations of corruption, Abante urged lawmakers to uphold transparency and scrap items lacking verifiable documentation.
“Hindi po namin sinasabi na katiwalian ang lahat nito. Kailangan po natin ng infrastructure nito, pero sana maayos,” he said.
In light of these findings, the coalition appealed to the Senate to excise unsupported projects during deliberations and called on the executive branch to exercise veto powers if necessary.
To foster greater accountability, the group has deployed an online budget insertion tracker enabling citizens to scrutinize roughly 18,000 projects integrated into the House spending bill, warning that unverified allocations could trigger a recurrence of past infrastructure scandals.