Independent opposition lawmaker Edcel Lagman on Thursday called on his colleagues in the House of Representatives to cleanse the proposed Department of Public Works and Highways' 2024 budget of "alien projects."

"We hope that in the submission of projects for inclusion in the National Expenditure Program, the submission must be cleansed of 'alien projects' which had been validated and scrutinized by respective district engineering offices," Lagman told DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan in a budget hearing.

"Priority projects should not be bumped by these [alien] projects in the submission of the National Expenditure Program," he stressed.

Prior to the budget hearing, Lagman said he had a dialogue with Bonoan, wherein the alien projects were disclosed.

Bonoan assured Lagman and the House Committee on Appropriations scrutinizing the agency's proposed budget for 2024 that the preparation of the national budget would be in full coordination with the members of Congress for the allocation of expenditure in their respective districts.

"This has been emphasized to all our district and regional offices actually that whenever they are going to submit actually their proposed programs and projects under the regional budget proposals, we wanted this to be make sure that these are fully coordinated with members of Congress," Bonoan said.