Ping confirms P355M insertion cited by DPWH man who has tagged Jinggoy
A total of P355 million in insertion for flood-control projects intended for the province of Bulacan was found in the 2025 national budget, according to Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.
The senator, who also chairs the Senate blue ribbon committee, said he immediately directed his staff to verify after former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) assistant district engineer Brice Hernandez alleged that Sen. Jinggoy Estrada maneuvered to allocate P355 million in the 2025 national budget for projects in Bulacan’s first district.
“I have it checked… if there was an insertion amounting to P355 million intended for Bulacan. And we found one. There was really an insertion that was not included in the House version but came after the bicam. So it was clear it was either inserted in the Senate version of the bill or the bicam,” Lacson told reporters during the Kapihan sa Senado on Thursday.
“That would add to the credibility [of Hernandez’s testimony] because the amount was exact. When we checked, indeed, there was really P355 million that was not in the House [General Appropriations Bill] version, it was not in the NEP [National Expenditures Program submitted by the Department of Budget and Management]. So either it was inserted in the Senate version or in the bicam,” he added.
The bicam or bicameral conference committee is a temporary, joint panel of the Senate and the House of Representatives formed to reconcile disagreements and conflicting provisions between the versions of a bill passed by each chamber.
The committee’s goal is to create a single, “harmonized” version of the bill that is then submitted for approval by both chambers of Congress.
Lacson said five projects had been awarded out of the funding insertion made and that his staff is checking their status.
Need for transparency
Apart from Estrada, Hernandez also accused Sen. Joel Villanueva of receiving “commitments”, which he said was a euphemism for kickbacks, equivalent to about 30 percent of the project cost for some flood-control projects in Bulacan.
Both Etrada and Villanueva denied Hernandez’s accusations.
Lacson said he would still like to dig deeper to validate the claim in so far as to the identity of the proponent of the insertion.
“We would like to find out because you know how things go during budget deliberation. I have long been fighting that we identify who the proponents of the amendments are. Because if it has no records, how can we identify the legislator– congressman or senator–who made insertions or amendments. There’s no record,” he pointed out.
He added that the proponent of the insertion may just get away with it.
“That’s possible since there were no records. That’s why moving forward, we need to be transparent all the way, every step of the way from the NEP,” the senator added.
Deeper probe
Lacson said the blue ribbon panel will continue pursuing evidence-based investigations amid the possibility of more senators being involved in alleged budget insertions.
“When we investigate, we should be blind-folded. I think our colleagues understand where I am coming from. Why are we even conducting an investigation if we’re just going to be selective. It won’t be fair,” he noted.
The Senate blue Ribbon committee is set to resume its probe on the alleged anomalous flood management projects on Sept. 18.
Lacson also said that an employee of WJ Construction, a contractor earlier tagged by Hernandez as allegedly delivering kickbacks to the Senate, was seen inside the Senate premises on Aug. 19.
“As we speak, we have video footage—a CCTV footage of WJ visiting here. I think her name is Mina. We will invite her because we will ask–although we already have an idea where she went and which office she visited. We will invite her to testify where she went, which office, and whom she talked to. We will ask her to explain whether or not it’s just a staff of the blue ribbon or the legislature that she visited,” he added.
