Former Ako Bicol Partylist Representative Zaldy Co has identified Senator Chiz Escudero as the official who allegedly pushed for major reductions in the proposed 2025 budgets of the Department of Education (DepEd), PhilHealth, and the Department of Agriculture (DA).
In a confidential letter sent to President Bongbong Marcos in February 2025, Co claimed that Escudero made these adjustments to create space for a ₱200-billion budget insertion sought by the Senate.
He said he wrote the President because the House of Representatives was being blamed for the cuts made during the bicameral conference committee discussions on the 2025 General Appropriations Bill.
“Due to DepEd’s low utilization rate and in a desire to increase the sources of funds during the bicam, SP Chiz cut ₱10 billion from the agency’s computerization program,” said Co, the former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations.
Escudero, then Senate President, represented the upper chamber in the bicam. Co added that disagreements surfaced over where to place the reallocated funds.
“The House position was to put the budget in school buildings, but SP Chiz insisted on puting everything in DPWH despite an earlier agreement that DepEd funds should only be reallocated within the agency or other DepEd projects. This was followed by another ₱1.692 billion budget reduction for new teaching positions which curtailed government’s ability to hire new teachers,” Co said.
He warned that because of this cut, DepEd only has enough funds to hire new teachers for the first quarter of the year and must still find resources to complete the target of 20,000 new teaching posts.
Co further stated that “It was also upon SP Chiz’s suggestion that the ₱74 billion subsidy for PhilHealth was scrapped.”
He also accused Escudero of attempting to transfer ₱106 billion to the District Engineering Offices (DEOs) of the DPWH, along with ₱16 billion in agency “ERRATA.”
The House reportedly refused to touch the ₱106 billion but agreed to release the ₱16 billion after Escudero allegedly threatened to delay the passage of the national budget.
Co said Escudero also cut ₱13.9 billion from the ₱27.8-billion allocation intended for the administration’s flagship projects. He informed then-Public Works Secretary Manny Bonoan about the change.
“This includes, among others budgets for the ongoing repair and rehabilitation of critical roads linking Batangas and Quezon province. If unrepaired, these roads will continue to cause severe traffic, massive inconvenience to commuters and motorists, and billions in revenue losses due to disruptions in trade and commerce,” Co said.
He contrasted this with the tenure of former Senator and now DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara, saying the Senate Finance Committee previously avoided touching flagship and Maharlika Highway-related projects. Cuts were applied only to Foreign Legacy Projects in 2023, which he said were being funded outside the programmed appropriations.
Co reminded the President of the long-standing allocation ratio: “Mr. President, I respectfully wish to inform you of a long-standing tradition in budget allocation ratios: for every one (1) unit allocated to the Senate, the House of Representatives receives two (2), given its significantly larger membership. Therefore, if the Senate is allocated ₱150 billion in programmed appropriations for 2025, the House of Representatives should proportionally receive ₱300 billion.”
He added that due to the size of the Senate’s demands and the ₱83 billion in programmed DPWH funds allotted to the Office of the President, the House settled for ₱120 billion for infrastructure projects—even though 2025 is an election year.
“Rather than further increasing the DPWH budget, the House chose to redirect its remaining funds towards social services, prioritizing programs like AKAP, AICS, TUPAD, and MAIPS, among others,” Co said.
He denied allegations that lawmakers stood to gain from the budget, saying:
“However, we did no such thing. In fact, the limited confidential and intelligence funds we allocated—based on requests from Your Excellency’s Cabinet, including the DOJ (₱1.15B (OP thru Jojo); DICT ₱50M (Cybersecurity and attacks vs. admin); and PNP Marbil request ₱500M (reported to Adrian) carry ZERO rebates. This claim can be readily verified with the concerned agencies.”
Co said Escudero also cut ₱10 billion from the DA’s fertilizer voucher project under the Rice Program. The ₱50 billion for the 4Ps program of the DSWD was also moved to Unprogrammed Appropriations following consultations with Secretary Rex Gatchalian.
“Also upon the Senate President’s insistence, the proposed realignments of DOH, DA, DOTr, and NIA were all considered as budget cuts. Thus, the complaints from these agencies,” Co added.
In his letter, he urged President Marcos to revisit the budget decisions and look into “the role of the Senate and some of Your Excellency’s closest allies in the massive realignments,” noting that bicam records and attachments would reflect “the extent of affected projects and programs.”