‘Almost all’ senators flagged for P100B insertions — Lacson

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo "Ping" Lacson on Sunday, 28 September, disclosed that at least P100 billion worth of items were inserted by "almost all" senators in the 19th Congress in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

In a radio interview, Lacson cited documents he gathered, noting that these were individual insertions, although they were eventually held for later release (FLR).

"It was humongous. I have never seen such amounts. Before the Priority Development Assistance Fund was declared unconstitutional in 2013, 'pork' amounted to hundreds of millions. Now it's at least P100 billion total for 24 senators alone," he said.

While Lacson has yet to scrutinize the list of House members, he noted that the list of representatives who made similar insertions is also long.

"At the budget deliberation, I can ask why these insertions were allowed," he continued.

"In scrutinizing the budget, especially in the plenary, I want to know how much of the insertions were released and how they were implemented," he added.

Lacson stressed that while insertions or amendments per se are not necessarily illegal, they are questionable, especially if individual insertions amount to P5 billion or even P9 billion.

Such insertions could threaten the economy because the withheld or diverted funds could have gone to infrastructure programs that were planned and vetted at the barangay, city, and regional levels, he said.

The senator reiterated his call to fellow lawmakers to practice self-restraint in inserting appropriations for locally funded infrastructure projects not just in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) but in other agencies like the Department of Education and the Department of Transportation, whose budgets include infrastructure projects.

He likewise appealed to fellow lawmakers not to avail of the so-called "leadership fund" in the DPWH that allows lawmakers to insert projects at the level of the National Expenditure Program.