Navotas City lone district Rep. Toby Tiangco told Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. not to divert the issue from the national budget by highlighting his P529-million insertion for flood control projects in the 2025 outlay.

"Ang panawagan ko kay Cong. Garbin, huwag ilihis ang isyu (My appeal to Cong. Garbin is for him not to divert the issue)," Tiangco said in a statement Friday afternoon, Sept. 5.

"P529M was the amount approved in the bicam from the requests for additional funding for Navotas. And I could not have made any insertion kasi hindi ko member ng bicam (become I'm not a member of the bicam)," he said.

"Bicam" refers fo the Bicameral Conference Committee. It is composed of a handful of selected House members and senators.

"All I can do is make a request and the bicam decides. So hindi ba mas lalong nakapagtataka kung bakit si [Ako Bicol Party-list Rep.] Zaldy Co (So isn't it more mysterious as to how Zaldy Co) was able to insert P13,803,693,000 to some districts that did not even ask for it?" Tiangco asked.

He also said there's nothing to be secretive about when it comes to flood control projects in his city of Navotas. "Flooding is really the number one issue that needs to be addressed [here]."

"Napaka-importante ng flood control projects dahil apektado ng baha ang maraming aspeto ng buhay—kaligtasan, kalusugan, kabuhayan, edukasyon, at negosyo ng bawat Navoteño. Openly naman po natin sinasabi sa ating mga kababayan na hihingan natin ng pondo sa national government ang flood control projects. Hindi po ito sekreto," he said.

(Flood control projects are very important because flooding affects many aspects of life—safety, health, livelihood, education, and the businesses of every Navoteño. We openly tell our fellow citizens that we are requesting funds from the national government for these flood control projects. This is not a secret.)

"Pero dahil limitado rin ang pondo ng national government, taon-taon ay partial ang pagpopondo kaya phase by phase ang pag-release ng budget (But because the national government’s funds are also limited, the funding is partial each year, so the budget is released phase by phase)," added the independent congressman.

Tiangco also wondered out loud how Ako Bicol Party-list and BHW Party-list was able to insert P2,295,000,000 and P2,064,000,000, respectively.

"Samantalang ang limit ng ibang party-lists ay P100 to P150 million lang? (Whereas, other party-lists have a limit of between P100 and P150 million only?)" he pointed out.