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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Solons get P15-B in 'pork barrel', some senators receive P5 to P10 billion - Lacson

Solons get P15-B in 'pork barrel', some senators receive P5 to P10 billion - Lacson

Published Jul 10, 2025 01:47 pm
Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson revealed that some lawmakers are receiving substantial "pork barrel" allocations worth billions.
Senator Panfilo
Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson (Office of Senator Lacson)
In an interview on One News late Wednesday, July 9, Lacson stated some members of the House of Representatives reportedly get up to ₱15 billion while some senators receive between ₱5 billion to ₱10 billion.
Lacson said that before the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, senators had only P200 million in pork and congressmen had P70 million.
"Pumapalo ngayon na mayroong senador na may P5 billion, mayroon pang P10 billion, may congressman na mayroong P15 billion (There are now senators receiving ₱5 billion, some even ₱10 billion, and congressmen getting as much as ₱15 billion)," he said.
The senator mentioned this amid a discussion of his scrutiny of the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), which he earlier noted had been mangled beyond recognition.
"We saw an item where a very small barangay in a small town received an appropriation of P1.9 billion. One small town got an appropriation of P10 billion. I will question if they can absorb that amount. Imagine, a P10-billion appropriation for a small town with 10,000 residents. It is an inequitable distribution of the budget," Lacson said in Filipino.
"I will seek clarification on this. What happened to the P10 billion appropriated to the small town? We saw that it is near a riverbank, but is it the only town with a riverbank? These appropriations are for flood control," he added.
Lacson, who said he intends to start the 20th Congress "up and running," is scrutinizing the items in the budgets for 2023, 2024, and 2025.
He noted that before he ended his last Senate term in 2022, he and then Sen. Franklin Drilon managed to have the appropriations for dredging and flood control projects removed from the budget, since these are the root of corruption.
Also, he cited information reaching him that a backhoe for flood control programs would be used only for show - being in action only when being inspected.
He illustrated the country's plight where it spends P16 billion but earns only P12 billion a day, thus needing to borrow P4 billion a day.
"If we don't shape up in preparing the budget, we may end up having to borrow P6 billion a day in one to two years, and P10 billion a day after five years. Where will we end up then?" he said.

Related Tags

ping lacson pork barrel priority development assistance fund (PDAF) 2025 budget
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