Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday, September 14 urged the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) to probe the possible existence of a syndicate behind the illegal realignment of billions of pesos in funds in the 2023 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

As former Speaker of the House, Cayetano said various sources have brought to his attention that there could be a group controlling the allocation of projects to the different congressional districts.

What was used to be done at the bicameral level, and usually in smaller amounts, has now become more prevalent and now involves billions of pesos.

“What is more alarming is the possibility that the fund manipulation is happening at the source, meaning the DPWH budget, even before it is submitted to Congress,” Cayetano said.

“If reports are true, it has become a corruption pandemic,” the senator lamented.

Cayetano dubbed the practice as an “expanded fund parking scheme.”

According to Cayetano the “syndicate” works by slashing the budget of certain congressional districts, and then negotiating its reinstatement in exchange for giving the projects to favored contractors.

Cayetano said the budgets of some districts were inexplicably cut in the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP), from as low as 21.41 percent to as high as 93.12 percent.

“Ang sumbong sa akin ay binabawasan daw ang budget ng mga distrito, tapos kakausapin nila ang congressman doon na pwede nilang ibalik ang pondo pero sila ang mamimili ng project at contractor nila ang gagawa nito (What they do is they cut the budget of these congressional districts, then they will approach the congressman and promise that they can restore the budget but they would be the ones who will choose the project and their own contractors would be in charge of the project,” he said.

“Holdup ang tawag dito (you call that robbery),” the lawmaker said.