House Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno on Wednesday explicitly named then-Senate President Chiz Escudero and Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co as the culprits behind the alleged anomalous last-minute insertions in the highly criticized 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

“It takes a lot of, you know, real painstaking work to do it. But it was the two [who] actually finalized those things. And that is what I’m saying, that did not come to light until just recently,” Puno said in an interview.

Puno disclosed that Escudero and Co made up the so-called small committee, with Speaker Martin Romualdez and former Senator Grace Poe, who chaired the Senate Finance Committee in the 19th Congress. 

Co is the former chairperson of the House committee on appropriations, and co-headed the bicameral conference committee with Poe. 

The bicam is composed of selected members of the House and the Senate, but Puno said, “they decided to make a small committee,” which consolidated the independent amendments to the GAB. 

Puno narrated that the four-member small committee held several meetings, in which Roomualdez and Poe did not attend, leaving Escudero and Co as the only attendees. 

“When the committee went into their meetings, this is where the insertions were put in by the way,” he said.

“It ended up Zaldy Co and Senate President Escudero were the ones [who] actually penciled in whatever needed to be penciled in,” the lawmaker continued. 

Under the 2025 GAA, Puno said the Department of Public Works and Highways’ budget allocated funds to around 20,000 infrastructure projects.

Puno earlier belied accusations that the House was to blame for the nearly P12-billion budget cut in the Department of Education, and the zero subsidies for the state insurer PhilHealth under this year’s budget, asserting that it remained intact in the House version of the GAB before its transmission to the Senate.

However, when the Senate returned the bill to the House, Puno said they noticed major changes, including a substantial increase in the DPWH’s budget.

“The House version did not have insertions; it went to the Senate,” he contended.

Hence, Puno strongly posits that Escudero and Co are solely responsible for the alleged budget manipulation “because the version that they sent back to the House already included all the insertions,” which he claimed was a “bicameral thing.”

“I think that’s what also triggered, I guess, the reorganization in the Senate because they know now,” he added. 

Puno mentioned that he convinced Romualdez to counter the allegations of budget manipulation and clear his name, but the latter allegedly refused to avoid an “argument with the Senate President.” 

“I’ll just swallow all of these. Anyway, I’m used to this,” Puno said, quoting Romualdez. 

“He didn’t want to get into any dispute with the Senate. But I think this is part of the reason why he has become a target for everyone,” he added

P.uno anticipates that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s probe into the flood control scheme will reveal additional irregularities connected to the budget.

Escudero acknowledged receiving P30 million in campaign contributions from Lawrence Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc., one of the 15 firms that secured a share of the government’s P100-billion flood control contracts nationwide. 

Meanwhile, Co has been tagged as the author of P13.8 billion in additions to the 2025 budget, an allegation he has denied.

Co is currently in the United States for “medical treatment”, but Puno said he “should be brought back forcibly [to the Philippines] if necessary.”