There’s a saying in politics: if it smells like pork — it probably is. And yet, here we are again, watching familiar tricks rebranded as “public service,” while billions of pesos of taxpayer money vanish under the guise of national progress.

It was no less than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who exposed the rot in July during his State of the Nation Address, delivering the infamous phrase, “Mahiya naman kayo.” Since then, the political decay has only deepened. The question is no longer whether budget insertions are being abused — but how deep the system goes, and who exactly is orchestrating it from the executive and legislative branches.

On Sunday, Senator Ping Lacson dropped another bombshell: a DPWH Undersecretary “Cabral” reportedly phoned the office of then-Senate Minority Leader Tito Sotto shortly after the May 2025 elections, offering to enter any “insertions” Sotto wanted in the 2026 budget. There’s only one Usec. Cabral in the DPWH and that’s Maria Catalina.

At any rate, Cabral’s words were, according to Lacson, “Magsingit na kayo rito ng gusto n’yong isingit.” Sotto, to his credit, declined, again according to Lacson.

Lacson then posed the real question: If Sotto was approached, who else was? Who else among our lawmakers — senators and congressmen — was invited by the DPWH to carve up the national budget like a roasted calf, with our taxes — our hard-earned money — served piping hot for the politically connected?

We already know who was —- take note of the past tense used in this sentence —- seated at the head of the table.

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, until late Monday the Senate president, had been asked as early as July to account for the billions inserted in the 2025 budget, much of it funneled through the same DPWH now accused of facilitating this pork pipeline that reportedly also benefitted personalities close to his ally, Majority Leader Joel Villanueva.

There’s, of course, Escudero’s own admission: that he received P30 million from Lawrence Lubiano, one of the contractors publicly linked by President Marcos to the multibillion-peso flood control controversy. Whether that’s guilt by association or complicity by confession, it’s up to the people to judge.

The 2025 budget Escudero allegedly engineered gave his ally Villanueva’s province of Bulacan P12.08 billion, the single largest slice, while Escudero’s own Sorsogon took P9.1 billion.

And where have the billions gone? Many were directed to flood control projects — precisely the type of infrastructure contracts now under scrutiny for overpricing, redundancy, and alleged ghost implementation. In General Nakar, Quezon, Escudero allegedly inserted five phases of “flood control” along the same river — the Agos River — each priced at a neat P150 million.

Back at the DPWH, sources said that Undersecretary Cabral had cultivated a reputation as a hardworking, low-key bureaucrat, a woman who rose through the ranks and who never rocked the boat. Now, if Cabral made that call to Sotto’s office, who told her to? Was it an internal DPWH racket, or part of a larger Senate–DPWH collusion to pre-approve insertions even before the NEP reaches Congress?

Even now, while Malacañang is pressing the House to “clean its own house first,” the upper chamber also faces a structural rot so deep that senators no longer deny the system — they simply deny responsibility. The budget process has become a shadow government of planners, politicians, and contractors, with DPWH as the nexus and taxpayers as the bankrollers.

Senator Lacson asked the right question: If this is what Cabral did with Sotto, how many more were approached — and how many said yes? It’s time the public demanded answers — not just from Cabral, but from Escudero, Villanueva and everyone who fed from this bloated, greasy trough.

And with Escudero and Villanueva themselves now linked to the very flood control projects under investigation, how can anyone expect the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee — subordinate to the Senate leadership — to conduct a credible, independent and fearless probe into this flood of corruption?

Escudero’s fall from the Senate presidency on Monday, replaced by Tito Sotto, should underscore the depth of the scandal that cost him his post. If he has any regard left for the institution and the people’s trust, Escudero should consider resigning as senator altogether.

Again, if Escudero claims to be clean, why accept P30 million from a contractor now in the eye of the storm? We may be under water, but we are not stupid.