In the congressional session on September 30, ACT Teachers representative and Deputy Minority Leader Antonio Tinio exposed the unparalleled corruption in public funds through unprogrammed appropriations (UA) controlled by Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Tinio revealed that Marcos himself approved 3,700 infrastructure projects worth ₱214.4 billion for 2023-2024. Some of these projects have been subjected to investigations in Senate hearings and have been proven to be ghost and substandard projects. Officials from the Office of the President down to municipal district engineers only used these as cash cows. Private contractors such as the Discaya couple and the relatives of Zaldy Co also plundered large amounts of these public funds.
Based on official data from the Department of Budget and Management, Tinio detailed that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) received ₱61.4 billion in UA in 2023 for 1,889 projects and ₱153 billion in 2024 for 1,811 projects. The largest share, or ₱141 billion, went to flood control projects while the rest went to road maintenance and multi-purpose buildings. UA consists of lump-sum allocations not itemized in the General Appropriations Act and distributed to various projects in a non-transparent manner.
“It’s like a different infrastructure budget entirely,” Tinio said regarding the massive UA of the president. He stressed that unprogrammed appropriations reached a historic ₱807 billion in 2023, ₱731 billion in 2024, and a projected ₱363 billion in 2025. He described the UA’s expansion in the past decade as “anomalous.”
According to Tinio, most of the projects funded by Marcos’s UA focused on Regions III, IV-B, V, and VII, areas now at the center of investigations because of failed and ghost projects.
Tinio emphasized that under Section 35, Chapter 5, Book 6 of Executive Order No. 292, all such expenditures require presidential approval. “The President himself approved all of these projects,” Tinio declared, contradicting Malacañang’s statement that Marcos had no role in the corruption-laden infrastructure.
“The Palace said the President had no role in the flood control issue: ‘He is not involved in corruption.’ However, data clearly established that the approval of nearly 4,000 additional infrastructure projects funded from unprogrammed appropriations all those required the President’s approval before they could be funded,” Tinio emphasize. Earlier, DPWH attempted to divert Marcos’s accountability by saying that only the Department of Budget and Management approved the projects.
Based on publicly released lists, Marcos approved the release of UA funds for the Discayas’ flood control projects in Hagonoy (ghost project, worth ₱193 million, funded by UA 2024), Calumpit (substandard, ₱96.49 million, funded by UA 2023), Plaridel (overpriced/substandard, ₱300 million, UA 2024), Cebu (under investigation, ₱149.5 million, UA 2024), Pasig City (₱500 million, UA 2023-2024) and Quezon City (₱1 billion, UA 2023). According to the Discaya couple, as well as involved engineers facing corruption charges, allocating up to 30% of funds to congressmen and senators has been a common practice.
“President Marcos Jr himself should stop washing his hands and explain to the public how and why he approved 3,700 infastructure projects from his own presidential pork barrel, the Unprogrammed Appropriation,” Tinio said.
Earlier, a special report from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism revealed that Marcos received at least ₱21 million in campaign contributions for his 2022 candidacy from two construction companies. These companies grew rapidly after he assumed power.
