Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Henry Aguda on Tuesday, November 25, said he has no knowledge about the alleged P6.5-billion inserted into the agency’s budget this year.

Aguda made the remark in an interview at the sidelines of the Senate’s plenary debates in the 2026 national budget when asked about former congressman Zaldy Co’s earlier claim that the DICT is among the agencies that supposedly received a total of P18.768-billion from the P100-billion worth of insertions made in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2025. 

“None that I know of, because we’re (operating) within our NEP,” Aguda said, referring to their budget under the National Expenditure Program. 

It was Co, in his Facebook video, who claimed that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who requested the P100-billion insertion.

Based on Co’s list of alleged insertions which he made public last week, P5-billion went to the DICT’s Free Public Internet Access Program (FPIAP); the other P1.5-billion went to the agency’s eGovernment Systems Development.

Aguda said he is willing to look into the matter, but said he hasn’t seen the document Co has released. 

“Of course, we will review but to my knowledge, right now, we are on the budget process, there seems nothing like that. It’s the same NEP budget that we had before,” he said. 

“If there are corrections, I will tell you,” the DICT chief said. 

Aguda also said he is okay with the public scrutinizing all transactions made. y the DICT. 

“The more people are looking into government transactions, the better.  But at DICT, we’re always transparent,” he said. 

Aguda surmised that the P5-billion Co may have been referring to was the Bayanihan SIM Project of the DICT, where the bidders are major telecommunication companies Globe, Smart, PLDT.

“And these are listed companies…So if that’s what he’s saying, I’m still not sure,” he pointed out. 

Besides, he said, the project went through the proper bidding process.

“And more than that, almost all agencies are now rushing to open a transparency portal, like what the President first did with the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways),” he said.

“But since March, all the bidding transactions made by the DICT are already open for public scrutiny,” he stressed.