Former senator Grace Poe, ex-chairperson of the Senate Finance Committee, denied on Tuesday, Sept. 23, any involvement in the supposed "small bicameral committee" that approved the controversial 2025 national budget, where huge budget insertions were made.

"As to the existence of the small committee, I'm not really privy to that. Wala akong sinasalihan na (I did not join any) small committee or closed door meetings with my counterpart in the House [of Representatives]," Poe said in an interview with reporters.

Poe made the remark as various entities, such as Congress and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), continue their search for the culprit behind the billions worth of insertions in the P6.352-trillion 2025 General Appropriations Act (ACT) or the law that provides for the country's national budget.

The government has sought an investigation into the 2025 budget as several departments, most especially the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), saw a significant increase in its budget allocation that even went above the proposal made by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Poe chaired the Senate Committee on Finance, which, according to the Senate website, oversees "all matters relating to funds for the expenditures of the National Government and for the payment of public indebtedness".

The former senator said she was invited by the ICI, an independent body formed by the President to investigate the widespread anomalies in the government's infrastructure projects, to "shed light on the process" of passing a budget.

This followed Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson's recent discovery that some insertions in the 2025 budget could have been made in the Senate or in the Bicameral Conference Committee proceedings.

Poe was the Senate counterpart to beleaguered Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, who headed the powerful House Committee on Appropriations. Co is accused of being a proponent to the anomalous infrastructure budget.

Poe, Co, former Senate President Chiz Escudero, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez were rumored to have been part of the small committee.

During Tuesday’s hearing at the ICI headquarters, Poe said investigators asked about the legislator-proponents of the "ghost" or substandard projects of the DPWH.

Poe explained that as per the usual process, any senator or House member may have their own individual or institutional amendments. These need to be submitted to the Office of the Secretariat.

Such amendments were coordinated to her by the secretariat and to both houses of Congress, which would then meet to reconcile.

"Lahat naman ng sinasabing amendments, na-ratify ng both Houses during the final bicam process (All the amendments that were made were ratified by both Houses during the final bicam process)," she said.

Poe also said that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) was presented with the copy of the amendments made by the Senate.

"They were aware of it," she said.