Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Thursday exposed what he described as continuing “pork barrel” allocations in the proposed 2025 national budget, with some lawmakers allegedly receiving billions in questionable appropriations despite the ban on such practices.

Citing the initial findings of his investigation into the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), Lacson revealed that one congressman received as much as P15 billion, while some senators were allocated between P5 billion and P10 billion.

“Before the pork barrel was declared unconstitutional, senators had P200 million each, and congressmen P70 million. Now some senators get P5 billion, others P10 billion, and one congressman even got P15 billion,” he said.

Lacson was referring to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in 2013.

He also flagged inequitable and distorted allocations for flood control projects in this year’s national budget, which he earlier said had been “mangled beyond recognition.”

"We saw an item where a very small barangay in a small town received an appropriation of P1.9 billion. One small town got an appropriation of P10 billion,” he said.

“I will question if they can absorb that amount. Imagine, a P10-billion appropriation for a small town with 10,000 residents. It is an inequitable distribution of the budget," he added.

He continued: “I will seek clarification on this. What happened to the P10 billion appropriated to the small town? We saw that it is near a riverbank, but is it the only town with a riverbank? These appropriations are for flood control.”

Lacson also raised concerns over the country’s fiscal trajectory, warning that the government’s current P16 billion daily spending far outpaces its P12 billion daily revenue, resulting in a P4 billion daily borrowing requirement.

"If we don't shape up in preparing the budget, we may end up having to borrow P6 billion a day in one to two years — and P10 billion a day after five years. Where will we end up then?" he said.