Senator Panfilo Lacson on Thursday branded the so-called “leadership fund” allegedly distributed among senators in 2024 as “illegal” and “unconstitutional,” saying it was more susceptible to corruption than the pork barrel system, which the Supreme Court abolished and declared unconstitutional in 2013.

Unlike the pork barrel, which allocated a maximum of P200 million yearly to each senator and P70 million to House members, Lacson said the new scheme had an “unlimited” ceiling, from P4 billion to P11 billion.

“That’s why the budget process was disrupted because of these shenanigans, so to speak,” Lacson told reporters in an interview, saying that it was time to abolish the so-called “leadership fund.”

His remarks followed a claim by former public works secretary Manuel Bonoan that senators in the 19th Congress received P24 billion in leadership funds from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Bonoan dropped the bombshell Wednesday during his court testimony in the malversation case of former senator Bong Revilla Jr.

He claimed that each senator received at least P500 million, while chairpersons of major committees received up to P1 billion each, purportedly at the discretion of then Senate president Miguel Zubiri. Zubiri has denied facilitating the fund allocation.

Senator JV Ejercito, who also served in the previous Congress, said he neither received nor participated in the leadership fund.

Although he was deputy majority leader under Zubiri, Ejercito said, “I wasn’t part of the leadership that formulated the budget.”

The leadership fund, also called “allocables,” refers to an ad hoc or internal budget allocation that allegedly allows legislators to tinker with the National Expenditure Program (NEP) even before it reaches Congress.

Lacson called it the “worst version” of the pork barrel, saying that lawmakers should not meddle in the NEP, which falls under the executive branch.

“Congressmen and senators should not dip their fingers into the budget preparation because that falls within the domain of the executive branch, extending down to the local levels,” Lacson said.

How it works

The scheme allegedly allowed lawmakers to insert pet projects into the DPWH budget or to select infrastructure projects from pre-approved lists provided by district engineers. The same scheme tainted what turned out to be ghost and substandard flood control projects funded in 2025.

Bonoan said the leadership fund was a covert arrangement between lawmakers and the DPWH to minimize budget disruptions, particularly during bicameral conference committee deliberations.

He claimed the P24 billion allocated to senators in 2024 was exchanged for new line items or insertions after the DPWH suffered a deep budget cut in 2023.

Lacson earlier alleged that almost all senators in the previous Congress had individual budget insertions totaling at least P100 billion in the 2025 General Appropriations Act.

He also questioned the sharp increase in the DPWH budget, from a proposed P717.31 billion to P893.12 billion in 2023 under the GAA, with P182.99 million earmarked for flood control.

In 2024, the DPWH budget rose to P996.8 billion from the proposed P822.2 billion, with P244.58 billion allocated for flood mitigation.

The late DPWH undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral allegedly dealt directly with lawmakers or their staff to identify pet projects and “allocables” in exchange for commissions.

Lacson said the allegations did not surprise him because they were consistent with the findings of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s flood control probe.

“I already knew that. Didn’t we even have a disagreement over it when I raised the issue? I said it doesn’t automatically mean that there is misuse if there is an allocable. But you know, it could open the floodgates to abuse, to corruption,” he said.

Lacson said he believed the 2026 budget was free of the leadership fund and that his office had begun scrutinizing the 2027 proposals of infrastructure-related agencies, particularly the DPWH, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Transportation. -30-