Palace: Marcos unaware of alleged P100-B Senate insertions

Malacañang on Monday said President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was not initially aware of the alleged individual budget insertions by senators amounting to around P100 billion in the proposed 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

In a press briefing, Presidential Communications Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Atty. Castro addressed queries regarding Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson's revelation that nearly all members of the 19th Congress had individual insertions in the national budget.

“Kung ito naman po ay nabulgar na at nailahad ni Senator Lacson, at iyan din po ang nais na tutulan ng ating Pangulo at ito din po ang naging dahilan kung bakit nagkakaroon tayo ng pag-iimbestiga tungkol sa mga maanomalyang flood control projects (If this has already been exposed and revealed by Senator Lacson, and this is also what our President wants to oppose, then this is also the reason why we are now conducting investigations into the anomalous flood control projects),” Castro said.

“So, siguro po mas nailalahad ngayon kung ano ba talaga ang nangyari sa budget ng 2025 (Perhaps things are now being more clearly presented regarding what really happened to the 2025 budget),” she added.

Castro emphasized that while the President approved the budget proposal at an executive level, he was not privy to the detailed individual insertions made by lawmakers during the legislative process.

“Noon pong naisagawa po ang budget, definitely hindi po detalyado ang kaniyang pagkakaalam, kung ano ba ang mga insertions ng mga nasabing senador (When the budget was being crafted, the President definitely was not fully informed of the detailed insertions from the senators),” she explained.

“Pero ngayon po dahil nakita po talaga at napansin po talaga ng Pangulo na anong nangyari sa pondo para sa flood control projects at ito ay naging bunga na rin para malaman ang mga ganiyang klaseng insertions (But now, since the President has truly seen and noticed what happened to the funds for the flood control projects, it has led to the discovery of those kinds of insertions),” she added.

Lacson, who chairs the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, recently revealed that nearly all senators in the 19th Congress made individual insertions totaling at least P100 billion into the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Citing documents he had obtained, Lacson noted that while these insertions were eventually categorized as "For Later Release" (FLR), they were still significant in scope.

Although he has yet to review the list from the House of Representatives, Lacson pointed out that the number of congressmen who made similar insertions is extensive.

“For the Senate, the insertions amounted to at least P100 billion. I was surprised because these are individual insertions, although they were held ‘for later release,’” he said in a radio interview on Sunday.