President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been accused of being directly accountable for alleged large-scale corruption in fraudulent flood control projects amounting to billions in taxpayer money.

A House minority lawmaker on Wednesday laid the flood control mess at the very doorstep of Malacañang, saying it was the President who “approved” the release of unprogrammed appropriations (UA) that bankrolled the scheme.

As the one who signs the General Appropriations Act into law, the President is also ultimately responsible for any insertions made from the National Expenditure Program to the GAB, several senators told Daily Tribune, citing command responsibility.

During plenary deliberations on the proposed P27.4-billion budget of the Office of the President for 2026, ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio squared off with Bataan Rep. Albert Garcia on whether Marcos also bears responsibility for the flood control fiasco by allowing the release of P214.4 billion in UA to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Tinio revealed that P61.4 billion and P153 billion were released to the DPWH from the UA in 2023 and 2024, respectively, to fund some 3,700 projects that included flood control, roads, bridges, and multi-purpose buildings.

“In short, the 3,700 additional local infrastructure projects, including flood control projects funded from unprogrammed appropriations in 2023 and 2024 […] will go through the DBM, but approval shall only come from the President,” Tinio said.

“The Executive Secretary was wrong in saying that he had nothing to do with the unprogrammed appropriations because the President himself approved it, Mr. Speaker. And therefore, the President has an accountability for all those projects, including accountability for the corruption that is now being exposed in relation to the unprogrammed appropriations and flood control, Mr. Speaker,” the Makabayan bloc solon said.

Unprogrammed appropriations are “standby funds” that can be tapped when the government collects more revenue than expected, or when grants and foreign funds are available. Traditionally, the UA is invoked for emergencies or critical programs.

Garcia countered that Tinio’s assertions were misplaced, saying the UA is not a lump-sum fund under Malacañang’s sole discretion.

“The Office of the President has nothing to do with this because it is within the jurisdiction of the requesting agency of the DBM and the Bureau of the Treasury. So, all of this happens without the involvement of the Office of the President,” Garcia said.

Trillion-peso trail

According to Tinio, the UA under Marcos had ballooned to nearly P2 trillion since 2023, although Garcia said P168.2 billion was vetoed in the 2025 budget. Marcos cut P194 billion in line items from the P6.352 trillion budget, including P16.7 billion intended for flood control.

Tinio did not buy Garcia’s assertion that Marcos had no hand in the release of the UA, citing a provision in the GAA that provides for the release of the UA through a special budget request as required by Book VI, Chapter 5, Section 35 of the Administrative Code of 1987 (Executive Order 292).

The EO states that expenditures from a lump-sum appropriation for any department must be “made in accordance with a special budget to be approved by the President.”

Garcia, however, contended that the UA was not specified in the said EO, and therefore, “these unprogrammed appropriations do not go through the OP.”

This year’s national budget — derided as the “most corrupt” ever passed — has been criticized for its swollen UA and discretionary funds, even as allocations for education and PhilHealth suffered deep cuts.

Senator Panfilo Lacson, head of the Senate Blue Ribbon investigation, said the DBM’s negligence paved the way for questionable UA releases, many handled by DPWH district engineering offices mired in “ghost” and substandard projects.

Several lawmakers — including ex-Senate President Chiz Escudero, Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada, and former House speaker Martin Romualdez — have been accused of taking billions in flood control kickbacks. All have denied any wrongdoing.

Former senators Bong Revilla and Nancy Binay were also tagged by ex-DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, who also accused DepEd Undersecretary Trygve Olaivar of demanding a 15-percent “commitment” for Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin. Bersamin dismissed the claim as “not true.”

The National Bureau of Investigation has recommended charges against the implicated lawmakers and DPWH officials, although Romualdez and Olaivar were excluded. The Department of Justice explained Romualdez’s omission by pointing to the failure of his accuser to submit an affidavit.

‘Complicit’

House Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno, meanwhile, slammed the DBM’s failure to vet billions in the 2026 National Expenditure Program, after he flagged suspiciously “uniform” flood control allocations in the P73 to P93-million range, all tucked into a single page.

The NEP is the President’s proposed budget, which the DBM submits to Congress for its approval. It is the basis for the annual budget bill, which becomes the General Appropriations Act when signed by the Chief Executive.

Puno argued that the DBM is equally culpable for the budget blunders, suggesting that the agency may be complicit with the DPWH, which has been embroiled in allegations of corruption and complicity with members of Congress involving the multibillion-peso flood control projects.

As a result, the DPWH’s proposed budget for 2026 has been slashed from P881 billion to P625.8 billion, with Congress realigning the P255 billion — initially earmarked for flood control projects — to education, health, and social aid.

However, despite the omission, at least P15.77 billion is still earmarked for flood control projects in the DPWH’s budget for next year, although Surigao del Sur Rep. Romeo Momo, the DPWH’s budget sponsor, said these are foreign-assisted projects.