MANILA, Philippines — Batangas 2nd District Representative Gerville Luistro has raised concerns over a massive ₱1.31 billion infrastructure allocation tied to her constituency in the House-approved 2027 budget, admitting she has no knowledge of where the funds originated after a watchdog flagged it as a potential legislative insertion.
The questionable allocation was brought to light by the People’s Budget Coalition (PBC), which pointed out that Luistro’s district received one of the largest Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) funding shares in the newly passed spending bill.
Speaking in a radio interview on Wednesday, Luistro explained that she was informed the contested amount closely mirrored the initial proposals submitted by the agency.
However, she emphasized that standard infrastructure funding follows a rigorous pipeline—beginning at district and regional engineering offices, moving to the DPWH central office, and passing through the Department of Budget and Management before reaching Congress as part of the National Expenditure Program.
According to the lawmaker, even local engineering officials were left empty-handed and unable to clarify how the ₱1.3 billion figure materialized when she pressed them for answers.
Seeking transparency on the matter, Luistro stated, “I would like to express my interest to see that list so I can verify for myself also what really happened.”