Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said on Saturday, Aug. 30, that he already flagged questionable allocations in the budget request of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for 2026, similar to what Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson had already exposed.

In an interview with DWIZ, Gatchalian revealed that he discovered questionable items in the DPWH’s ₱881.3-billion allocation while reviewing the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

As the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Gatchalian is set to sponsor and defend the proposed ₱6.739-trillion national budget during plenary debates later this year.

"May nakita kami let's say isang proyekto pero nakahati sa apat pero pare-pareho yung amount (We saw, let's say, one project that was split into four parts, but each had the same amount)," he said in an interview over DWIZ.

Gatchalian stated that it's impossible that projects, especially those related to flood control, would have the same amount. In an earlier TV interview, the senator stated that the questionable entries were found in the DPWH Annex called Annex 1C.

In his privilege speech on the anomalous flood control projects, Lacson coined the term "distinct" as part of the parlance known only to those involved in fund manipulation.

"'Distinct' refers to budget items found in the GAA and awarded contracts with identical amounts for projects that are either nearby or far apart," he said.

It is called "distinct” because, Lacson said, according to their informants inside the DPWH and confirmed by some contractors, this is a “coded budget” to identify the “owners” of the projects.

Gatchalian said that what they found is already a "red flag" when it comes to budget allocation. He added that they're continuously reviewing this as there were 4,000 line item projects for flood control alone, amounting to P270 billion.

"Dapat masusing i-review ito dahil kung hindi natin i-rereview, at hindi pa makukulong yung mga sindikato, eh tuloy lang ang ligaya nila sa 2026 (This needs to be thoroughly reviewed because if we don’t scrutinize it and the syndicates are not jailed, they will just keep enjoying themselves in 2026)," he added.

When asked if the DPWH is perhaps the proponent behind the ghost flood control projects in Bulacan, Gatchalian said: "Sigurado ako diyan, dahil di naman papasok sa NEP yung project na yun kung di isusulat ng DPWH lalo na mga district engineer (I’m certain about that because that project wouldn’t make it into the NEP if it weren’t written in by the DPWH, especially the district engineers)."

The senator also believes that DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan knows of the presence of "syndicates" within the agency who are behind these anomalous flood control projects. He added that it would be better if he took a leave of absence out of delicadeza while the matter was being investigated.