Leadership fund vs insertions (2)

In what could be a portent of things to come this year, President Marcos vetoed P194 billion worth of projects in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2025, reducing the current national budget to P6.326 trillion. Mr. Marcos noted that some provisions “required careful scrutiny,” explaining why he delayed signing the budget until Dec. 30, 2024.

“We take our role as stewards of our taxpayer money seriously. And for this reason, after an exhaustive and thorough review, we have directly vetoed over P194 billion worth of the line items that are not consistent with our programmed priorities,” the President said in a statement issued that day by the Presidential Communications Office.

He axed the P26.065 billion allocation for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and another P168.240 billion worth of projects allocated under the controversial unprogrammed appropriations (UAs).

Blank items. At this point, there were telltale signs that something was amiss with the 2025 national budget, now considered one of the most controversial budgets ever crafted by Congress. This situation echoes the time of the Arroyo administration, which operated with a reenacted budget for at least three of its nine years in office because of chaos in the budget process.

Last January saw the first signs of trouble under this current dispensation when the opposition pointed out blanks in the bicameral conference report on the GAA, which, however, was quickly disproved by administration allies in Congress. Looking back, the opposition may have been right after all, but it was barking up the wrong tree. Instead of castigating the corruption-ridden DPWH, it focused on allocations under the Department of Agriculture and UAs for unprogrammed appropriations (worth P168.240 billion) that had already been vetoed by the President.

But how did the additional P100 billion insertions manage to get into the final version of the budget bill?

This is where the claim of resigned Ako Bicol party list Rep. Zaldy Co becomes relevant, although it was factually dubious in the way it was told. The long and short of it was that the grandnephew of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Undersecretary Adrian Carlos Bersamin, and Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, allegedly at the behest of Mr. Marcos, ordered Co to insert P100 billion during the bicam deliberations on the 2025 budget. Co has since fled the country after being implicated in the flood control corruption scandal. All three executive officials, along with Education Undersecretary Trygve Olaivar, tendered their resignations on Monday following Co’s revelation.

However, it was illogical for the insertions to occur late in the budget process, when Malacañang could have simply included them in the National Expenditure Program, which is the President’s proposed budget. Sen. Panfilo Lacson further argued that “it’s common sense—would he (Marcos) order something and then veto it?” (see “Lacson: Marcos was misrepresented; kickbacks went to Bersamin, Olaivar,” News, 11/18/25).

Misrepresentation. But there’s a scenario where Co’s claim of insertions could be partially true.

The insertions did take place, but Adrian Bersamin and Olaivar name-dropped the President without the latter’s knowledge to facilitate the belated insertions. This was the assertion of Lacson, a position supported by former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, shooting down Co’s claim of alleged commission for the President as “absolutely untrue.” (see also “Lacson: 2 got ‘kickbacks’ from insertions Co bared,” News, 11/19/25).

Therefore, if the misrepresentation did take place, Lacson was correct in saying on Tuesday that Bersamin and Pangandaman, among the highest officials in the Marcos Cabinet, were shown the door after Mr. Marcos was informed of Bernardo’s written account on the insertions. But then again, Bersamin denied the “imputation” against him and disputed Bernardo’s credibility, saying that the latter’s “knowledge looks and sounds like at least triple hearsay.”

Common link. If we believe Bernardo, then Olaivar seems to be the common link between the Office of the Executive Secretary and the offices of former Senators Bong Revilla and Sonny Angara, now education secretary. Bernardo testified at the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing last Nov. 14 that Olaivar allegedly received cash “deliveries” for the OES (under the 2025 budget) and Angara (from 2019 to 2024) (see “Ex-DPWH Usec Bernardo implicates names in flood control mess,” News, 11/14/25).

Bersamin labeled the “imputation as untrue,” while Angara rejected “the insinuation,” as he had “never been involved in corruption.” Olaivar, who used to work for Revilla in the Senate, also denied the accusation but resigned from his post as education undersecretary on Monday. Revilla also denied the allegation raised by Bernardo, vowing to face “this head-on.”

It’s high time for Olaivar to come clean about his alleged involvement, considering that, according to Lacson, Bernardo allegedly delivered as much as P8 billion in kickbacks to Olaivar in at least 10 deliveries in the basement of the Diamond Hotel.

—————-

lim.mike04@gmail.com