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Detailed information and a feasibility study are needed to ensure that there are no ghost flood control budgets in the 2027 national budget, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said Sunday.
Speaking to Super Radyo dzBB, Gatchalian said projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) should include details like station numbers and coordinates to avoid redundancy.
“Kasi kung hindi mo lalagyan ng coordinates ‘yan, binibigyan mo ng discretion o kapangyarihan ‘yung district engineer kung saan niya gusto ilagay ‘yan at pwedeng maging doble o maging ghost,” Gatchalian said.
(Because if you do not provide coordinates, you are giving the district engineer the discretion or power to decide where to put it, which could result in duplication or ghost projects.)
“Importante na may feasibility study. Ngayon kasi itong mga flood control project… hindi mo alam kung makakatulong talaga o hindi,” he added.
(It is important to have a feasibility study because, right now, with these flood control projects, you don’t know whether they will actually help or not.)
On Tuesday, the Senate formally received a copy of the P7.2 trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for fiscal year 2027.
The proposed budget prioritizes education, healthcare, livelihood, national security, and community empowerment in line with the administration’s theme of “people-centered growth for an inclusive and resilient future.”
Meanwhile, Gatchalian shared that he has never encountered the so-called “leadership fund,” a mechanism Senator Panfilo Lacson described as improper, though not illegal, as it allowed lawmakers to identify projects during the budget preparation stage.
“In the past 10 years, walang nag-offer, walang nagbigay, and walang nakikipag-usap sa akin, at least, nang personally dito sa leadership fund,” Gatchalian said.
(In the past 10 years, no one has offered, given, or personally approached me regarding the leadership fund.)
In a separate statement, Manila Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante said the Senate should explain how the allocations were made, who received in and how and when the money was spent.
“The proper questions should be like, what particular appropriation are we taking about? Where does it appear in the budget, when was this introduced, ano’ng public purpose nito, ano’ng ahensiya ang nag-implement niyan,” Abante said.
According to former DPWH secretary Manny Bonoan, the P24-billion leadership fund was included in the 2025 DPWH budget.
He said he had discussions on the “parameters” of the fund with then Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and that they agreed that each senator would be allocated at least P500 million, with chairman of major committees getting up to P1 billion. — BAP, GMA News
