“If you wanted an additional budget, you would pay 20 percent to Zaldy Co.”

That, according to Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco, was the price lawmakers and contractors had to pay to secure projects inserted into the national budget, a practice he described as the root of the multibillion-peso flood control corruption that came under national scrutiny following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address in 2025.

Speaking on DAILY TRIBUNE’s Straight Talk program, Tiangco claimed the national budget had effectively become “for sale,” with projects allegedly awarded not based on public need but to those willing to pay commissions.

Tiangco said he first learned of the practice after returning to the House of Representatives in 2022 following his stint as mayor of Navotas City.

“When I came back to Congress in 2022, discussions on the 2023 budget were already underway. I heard about the buying of projects,” he said.

According to Tiangco, the alleged scheme involved former Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Zaldy Co, then chairman of the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, who supposedly brokered project insertions for a 20-percent fee.

“Let’s say you’re a contractor. You’d tell Zaldy, ‘I want P1 billion worth of projects.’ You will pay 20 percent, or P200 million. Then you decide what projects you want, and they will insert them into the budget,” Tiangco alleged.

He said the issue was openly discussed among members of Congress and that contractors, not just lawmakers, were able to purchase government-funded projects.

Tiangco said his findings prompted him to publicly identify Co and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez as key figures in the alleged flood control anomaly.

Co chaired the appropriations committee from the start of the 19th Congress in July 2022 until January 2025 and presided over deliberations on the controversial 2025 General Appropriations Act, which critics have described as one of the most contentious national budgets in recent years.

The Navotas lawmaker, however, said he could not determine whether the alleged practice predated the current Congress or had also existed under previous House leaders.

Insertions allegedly started in NEP

Tiangco disputed the common perception that questionable projects were inserted only during the bicameral conference committee deliberations.

Instead, he claimed many of the insertions were already embedded in the National Expenditure Program (NEP), the budget proposal submitted by the Executive branch to Congress.

He said he did not know whether President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was involved in the alleged scheme, but noted that the President later suspended the implementation of billions of pesos worth of questioned projects pending their review.

“From what I know, as of the end of July 2025, about P60 billion from the House’s P209 billion in questioned insertions had not been implemented,” Tiangco said.

‘Protected’ through

non-allocable funds

Tiangco further alleged that the projects were deliberately placed under the budget’s non-allocable items to prevent lawmakers from modifying or removing them during deliberations.

He explained that while allocable funds may be adjusted to address the needs of congressional districts, non-allocable appropriations are generally reserved for national or flagship projects and are largely insulated from amendment.

“The problem with non-allocables is that since they know these cannot be changed, the bought projects are placed there so they cannot be altered,” he said.

He also linked the alleged practice to the significant increase in unprogrammed appropriations in recent years.

According to Tiangco, once a purchased project was accommodated in the regular budget, an equivalent amount would allegedly be transferred to the unprogrammed appropriations.

“For example, someone buys a P1-billion project. That P1 billion goes to the person who bought it, then the P1 billion in the budget is placed in the unprogrammed appropriations,” he alleged.

Unprogrammed Appropriations reached P807.2 billion in 2023, P731.4 billion in 2024, and P531.67 billion in 2025 before President Marcos vetoed a substantial portion, reducing the amount to P363.2 billion.

‘Small fish’ prosecuted

Nearly a year after the President’s “Mahiya naman kayo” address that put the spotlight on flood control projects, Tiangco said he was disappointed that investigators had yet to go after what he described as the “big fish.”

He said the investigation has largely focused on officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), while those who allegedly orchestrated the budget insertions have not been held accountable.

“The problem is the people who have been caught are the small fish. Those detained are from the DPWH and the contractors. The people who sold the projects have not been arrested because the DPWH cannot bid out projects that were never inserted into the budget,” he said.

Tiangco maintained that the alleged corruption began with the selling of projects and claimed Co could not have carried out the scheme without Romualdez’s knowledge.

“The root of all corruption is the selling of the projects and the selling of the budget. I cannot believe that Zaldy Co sold all those projects without the knowledge of former Speaker Martin Romualdez,” he said.

Co and Romualdez have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Ombudsman has confirmed that plunder and money laundering complaints against Romualdez and Co are under preliminary investigation.

The development followed the submission of affidavits by eight alleged bagmen who claimed they delivered cash-filled luggage to public officials.

Romualdez’s camp has said the former speaker remains in Leyte serving as the representative of the province’s 1st District, while Co has reportedly sought political asylum abroad.