Budget “insertions” in Taguig were not allegedly confined to Senator Alan Cayetano, as his sister, Senator Pia Cayetano, also had her share amounting to P4.7 billion in the 2025 budget alone, Senator Ping Lacson bared Sunday.

The amount was allegedly on top of the P6.79 billion worth of congressional “insertions” in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) purportedly traced to Alan to bankroll infrastructure projects in Taguig, the Cayetanos’ political bailiwick.

At present, Lacson said there was “no indication yet” that Pia’s insertions were attributed to anomalous flood-control projects in Taguig, unlike those of Alan.

He pointed out, though, that his office’s findings were not yet final, as they had yet to peruse the documents linking Pia to the supposed insertions.

“I hope she had no role [in the anomalous flood-control projects], but as for the insertions, she did. I think there is about P4.7 billion of that in the 2025 [GAA],” Lacson said in Filipino in a radio interview.

“We haven’t verified yet how much of the P4.7 billion [in projects] was actually implemented. The only clear finding in the records concerns Senator Alan: of his P6.7 billion, about P75 million appears to remain unimplemented,” he added.

No response — yet

The DAILY TRIBUNE reached out to the lady senator for comment, but she had yet to respond as of press time.

Lacson’s fresh allegations came as his bitter feud with Alan intensified over billions of pesos worth of infrastructure projects in Taguig that were marred by corruption allegations.

Lacson has explicitly linked Minority Leader Alan to alleged “ghost” and substandard infrastructure projects in Taguig, while claiming other projects had duplicate budgets of about P100 million each.

The scheme allegedly flourished in 2020, when Cayetano was still Speaker of the House of Representatives.

From that period to 2025, Taguig accumulated a staggering P14.4 billion worth of infrastructure projects, according to Lacson.

Denial

Alan has repeatedly denied that there were “ghost” projects in Taguig and welcomed any probe, saying his pet projects there could withstand scrutiny.

He, however, cried foul over why Taguig was being singled out despite reports of alleged rampant “ghost” projects in Ilocos Norte, the President’s bailiwick.

“Budget insertions” have become a notorious means of funneling public funds to favored legislative districts of lawmakers and have subsequently been associated with substandard, overpriced, or “ghost” or nonexistent projects.

Before the multibillion-peso flood-control scandal came to light, budget insertions or amendments were vested in lawmakers as members of Congress holding the power of the purse.

The 2025 GAA has been widely derided as the “most corrupt” budget ever passed in history for allegedly featuring bloated Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA), where billions worth of flood-control projects and pet projects of lawmakers were reportedly sourced.

‘Most corrupt’

The UA are the so-called standby funds outside the annual budget and can be released only if the government collects excess revenue or receives additional grants or foreign loans.

Critics and watchdogs have alleged that lawmakers deliberately bumped President Marcos Jr.’s flagship projects to the UA during the closed-door bicam to make room for their pet projects, including infrastructure and flood-control projects susceptible to kickbacks.

The UA, deemed by opposition lawmakers a conduit for corruption, has allegedly swelled to unprecedented levels since 2023 — Marcos’ first full year in office — reaching nearly P2 trillion as of 2025.

The 2025 budget was initially pegged at P6.352 trillion but was subsequently reduced to P6.326 trillion after President Marcos vetoed P194 billion worth of line items deemed inconsistent with his administration’s priority programs, including P16.7 billion for flood control.