Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. is accusing Navotas City lone district Rep. Toby Tiangco of having P529 million worth of insertions in the P6.326-trillion 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), the same budget that the latter has assailed for supposed corruption.

In an interview with House reporters Friday, Sept. 5, Garbin said these alleged insertions from Tiangco were used to fund projects awarded to St. Timothy Construction Corporation and SYMS Trading Construction--two firms linked to anomalous flood control projects.

Garbin is a co-nominee of Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, the Committee on Appropriations chairman during the previous 19th Congress and Tiangco's favorite punching bag on the budget issue.

'Speaking of insertion, eh siya meron siyang insertion na sobra sa kalahating bilyon and out of the P529 million na insertion niya on 2025, 65 percent to 70 percent nito ay flood control sa Navotas,” he said of Tiangco.

(Speaking of insertion, he has an insertion of more than half a billion, and out of the P529 million he inserted for 2025, 65 to 70 percent of it is for flood control in Navotas.)

“And ako’y namamangha kung bakit doon sa pagdinig ng tri-comm, nandun na yung dalawang contractor na awarded sa kanyang distrito (And I’m astonished that during the tri-comm hearing, the two contractors that were awarded projects in his district were present), and these two contractors are being investigated right now because of ghost projects. I’m referring to St. Timothy and SYMS Trading Construction,” Garbin said.

The tri-comm is another name for the House Infrastructure Committee (infra comm). Tiangco joined the initial part of the joint panel's hearing on the flood control projects mess last Sept. 2, and then left.

Garbin said that in the project awarded to St. Timothy, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) even wrote a letter to Tiangco asking for assistance in the implementation of the project. The construction firm is owned by the Discayas.

"Eh dapat imbestigahan niya muna yung sarili niya, yung bakod niya, bago lumipat dun sa iba (He should investigate himself first, his own backyard, before he picks on somebody else)," Garbin, a lawyer, said in the same interview.

Tiangco has been seeking Co for answers on alleged insertions in the 2025 national budget. Co in currently in the United States (US) for medical reasons.

Garbin said that these insertions were not released, “meaning [they're] not part of any anomalous DPWH projects subject of investigation right now".

“Yun ang aking pinupunto dito, kasi binubugbog niya ng binubugbog yung ibang tao, si Cong. Zaldy pero hindi niya nakikita, hindi niya, sabi ko nga imbestigahan muna niya yung bakuran niya,” he asserted.

(That’s the point I’m making here, he keeps attacking other people, like Cong. Zaldy, but he doesn’t see, he doesn’t, as I said, he should investigate his own backyard first.)

"Pero ito since na-mention niya na rin sabihin ko na rin yung totoong insertion niya sobra sa kalahating bilyon. Yung iba na sinasabi niya, hindi na-release pero yung kanya na-release kaagad at dahil na-release kaagad nakuha kaagad nung dalawang contractor na involved sa 'ghost' project. Kaya sinasabi ko i-focus nya muna yung kanyang attention sa kanyang bakuran,” the Bicolano futher said.

(But since he mentioned it, I’ll also say what his actual insertion, it's more than half a billion. The others he talks about weren’t released, but his was released immediately, and because it was released right away, it was quickly taken by the two contractors involved in the ghost project. That’s why I’m saying he should focus his attention on his own backyard first.)

Garbin highlighted the arduous process that the national budget goies through. "[It] is an act of Congress, hindi ito trabaho ng isa lang tao dahil ito ay inaaprubahan ng dalawang kapulungan (this isn't the job of just one person because it is approved by the two chambers), the Senate and the House of Representatives.”

Garin also pointed that Tiangco voted during the ratification of the 2025 budget that was went through the Bicameral Conference Committee hearings held by senators and House members.

"Hindi ko maintindihan ngayon salita siya ng salita at pinagtutuunan niya ng pansin, na kung saan inaprubahan siya ng Kongreso kasama siya sa bumoto (I cannot understand why he keeps talking right now, he keeps giving attention to the budget that was approved by Confress, and yet he was among those who voted),” he said.