Dennis Gasgonia

Article (news)

sotto

RG Cruz

ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Past Senate Presidents who led the chamber in approving national budgets that funded flood control projects that were later exposed to be &quot;anomalous&quot; have called for transparency.Former Senate President and now Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III said there were no insertions during the budgets under his watch.Former Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, meanwhile, urged tto release the names of all the proponents of insertions during the bicameral conference committee proceedings on the budget following the discovery by the House Infrastructure Committee. One alleged ghost project in the 2024 budget was reportedly inserted by a lawmaker as it was not present in the original budget proposal of the Executive--the National Expenditure Program. Zubiri was Senate President from July 2022 to May 2024 which meant he led the chamber&#x27;s approval of the 2023 and 2024 budgets. Current Education Secretary Sonny Angara was then Senate Finance chair.  Sotto, the current Senate Minority Leader, was Senate President from May 2018 to June 2022 which meant he led the chamber in approving the 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 budgets. In his privilege speech weeks ago, Lacson referred to anomalous flood control projects funded in 2018, 2021, 2023 and 2024. Items introduced by Congress in the 2025 budget, the first approved under Senate President Francis Escudero, are subject to presidential approval before release. Separately, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also vetoed over P26 billion in the DPWH 2025 budget for not being consistent with the administration&#x27;s priorities. &quot;That’s why I have always maintained that let’s release the names of all the proponents of these insertions during the bicam. Imposibleng walang sponsor n&#x27;yan sa small bicam where a lot of the amendments were done. We should find out if that’s from a congressman or a senator and from whom. The Chairpersons at that time have that list. I never meddled in the bicam, nor have i attended any small bicam. You would be able to get answers from the Committee of appropriations of both houses,&quot; said Zubiri.&quot;No insertions unless institutional amendments. Ghost projects? That is not within my gambit to monitor then, but I doubt it dahil aawayin namin pag nalaman namin,&quot; Sotto said.&quot;Insertions during my term as SP?  Impossible! My Committee on Finance Chairperson Loren Legarda never allowed insertions in the budget before the 3rd reading nor in the bicam. In fact, the budget of 2019 where an insertion amounting to P75 billion escaped our scrutiny, I indicated my strong reservations, through an annotation in the budget, and asked then President Duterte to veto the P75 billion insertions. Also, I have an eagle eyed watchman named Ping Lacson. Our records will speak for itself.&quot; For his part, Angara said there are insertions.  He was Finance Committee Chair under Zubiri.&quot;There are hundreds maybe thousands of project insertions. Best to check the records,&quot; said Angara. Incumbent Finance Committee chair Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said they would have to check their records. &quot;Well, hindi kasi ako yung chairman that time, so I&#x27;m not very sure if they are keeping records of the deliberation as well as the documents. I have to check with the secretariat kung mayroong ganyan,&quot; he said.<div>PROBING BICAM COMMITTEE DELIBERATIONS?</div> Gatchalian said it will be up to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to decide if it wants to look into past bicameral conference committee deliberations.Gatchalian expects the executive to take out all potentially anomalous items in the 2026 budget when it is submitted to the legislature for approval, following reports that the Department of Budget and Management and Department of Public Works and Highways will review the latter&#x27;s agency budget. He, however, anticipates a delay in the budget deliberations.Gatchalian said his office is still compiling all the red flags they have spotted in the budget. He said they have seen red flags in the 4,000 projects they have checked.&quot;Dahil 4,000 projects, nakita namin maraming ganyan. Maraming ganyan across the flood control budget. Flood control lang ito. Wala pa tayong kalye, wala pa tayong multi-purpose building, wala pang mga tulay,&quot; he said.&quot;Meron rin, meron rin. Meron rin. Hindi ko lang memorize kung saan. Pero meron rin. Across the country, meron. Hindi lang NCR. Across the country, meron repetitive,&quot; he added. Gatchalian said unless the concerns are addressed, senators are inclined to take away the entire floor control budget and realign the money to education.He said it can be transferred to education since it has yet to reach 4% of GDP upon the removal of pension payments. To exceed 4% of GDP, it will require added P55 billion.However, they also have concerns over the education agencies&#x27; capacity to implement, which could be remedied by allowing local government units to build schools.Gatchalian explained this can be done by adding a special provision providing for such an authorization in the budget law.&quot;Parang ganun, i-authorize na lang natin ang DepEd para mag-enter into, let&#x27;s say, a MOA with LGUs or mag-PPP para magpatayo sila ng mga classroom gamit ibang modality, LGUs or PPP or NGOs para mabilis. Ginawa na ito during the time ni President PNoy  at personally, tingin ko, effective yun kasi bumilis yung pagkoconstruct ng classrooms,&quot; he said. Gatchalian vowed to scrutinize projects before approving though they will have to check at random since they have no capacity to oversee thousands of projects.They are also looking at strictly adhering to the required documentation for projects. Gatchalian also advised all agencies to make sure their proposed projects are backed up by required documentation.

Past Senate Presidents who led the chamber in approving national budgets that funded flood control projects that were later exposed to be "anomalous" have called for transparency.

Past Senate Presidents who led the chamber in approving national budgets that funded flood control projects that were later exposed to be "anomalous" have called for transparency.

Sotto says no 'budget insertions' while Senate President

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Sotto says no 'budget insertions' while Senate President

RG Cruz,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 05, 2025 04:43 PM PHT

Read More:

Ghost projects

Flood Control Projects

DPWH

Senate

Vicente Sotto

Miguel Zubiri

Sherwin Gatchalian

Budget

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