Members of the Senate minority bloc on Sunday, September 7 called for utmost transparency as they press that proponents of budget insertions in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) be publicly identified.

This, as Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson named an official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) as the one who allegedly called up and invited at least one lawmaker to make early insertions in the proposed national budget for 2026.

According to Lacson, the caller, who claimed to be “Undersecretary Cabral,” called up a staff member of Senate Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III shortly after the May 2025 senatorial elections and asked them to propose what they want to insert in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2026.

“One 'Undersecretary Cabral' called Sotto's staff and told them to insert what they wanted to insert,” Lacson said in Filipino in an interview on DZBB radio.

“If Sen. Sotto was one of those called by that executive, who else could have been contacted similarly and submitted their proposed insertions?” he pointed out.

Sotto, he said, assured him, that he did not submit anything because they are advocating transparency and good governance.

“The question now is, how many members of the House and Senate made insertions?” he added.

In the DPWH website, a certain Maria Catalina E. Cabral is listed as Undersecretary for Planning, Public-Private Partnership, and Information Management Services.

https://www.dpwh.gov.ph/dpwh/directory/key_officials/usec_PPP

The senator noted the 2026 NEP was already being prepared before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called out lawmakers in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 28.

The budget call started January 2025, and likely ended in June, in time for its submission to Congress within 30 days after the President's SONA, Lacson noted.

According to Lacson, he has asked for the relevant records of the DPWH and with it, he said he has seen hundreds of “distinct” entries, including 660 items for identical P100-million projects without stationing or descriptions.

He lamented that such collusion between agencies like the DPWH and lawmakers may have rendered useless the checks and balances for the budgeting process.

Lacson said this could be one factor why Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin made a statement calling on the House of Representatives to heed the public demand for full accountability and to “clean (its own) house first.”

“Safeguards will be rendered useless if there is collusion. If there is collusion, all safeguards will be disregarded, as seen in the briefing of the Development Budget Coordination Committee where there was collusion between legislators and the DPWH in the drafting of the NEP,” he said.

Sotto, in a separate interview on Radio DZBB, said he supports proposals for a full disclosure among all legislators, including senators, if they have had any conflict of interests in the ongoing investigation into ghost flood control projects.

At the same time, he said the lawmakers should also disclose whether they made the budget insertions, so that they would be held accountable.

“But there’s a way to know who made the insertions. You can go to the records of the LBRMO (Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office),” Sotto said.

Senate probers, he said, should consider scrutinizing the budgets, not just from fiscal year 2022 to 2024, but from 2016 to 2025 as well, as the Discayas’ started cornering flood control projects from the DPWH in 2016.

“Those top 15 contractors who were involved (in the anomalous projects) started in 2016,” Sotto pointed out.

Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, a former Senate president before he was replaced by Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero said he, too, supports suggestions releasing the names of all proponents of insertions during the bicameral conference committee.

“I have always maintained that let’s release the names of all the proponents of these insertions during the bicam,” Zubiri said in a statement.

“It’s impossible to say there was no sponsor during the small bicam where a lot of the amendments were done. We should find out  if that’s from a congressman or a senator and from whom,” Zubiri said.

“The Chairpersons at that time have that list. I never meddled in the bicam, nor have I attended any small bicam. You would be able to get answers from the Committee of appropriations of both houses,” he stressed.

Zubiri said all requests for amendments, whether institutional or local are given to the chair of the appropriations committee.

“Never as Senate president did I meddle with any list or request from any member of the Senate,” he stressed.

“The LBRMO knows if that was an amendment by a Senator or Congressman during the small Bicam meeting,” he stressed.