House increases DPWH budget for Sandro Marcos’ district by P4.3B – watchdog

KEY POST. Ilocos Norte 1st District Representative Sandro Marcos leads the floor after being elected House majority leader on July 28, 2025.

Sandro Marcos' Facebook

The People's Budget Coalition flags nearly 7,000 DPWH projects worth P190 billion without published project attachments in the House-approved 2027 budget

AT A GLANCE

• Ilocos Norte's 1st District received the largest increase in public works funding, with an allocation of P4.74 billion in the House-approved budget for 2027, up from P369 million in the original proposal.
• Concerns were raised during a Senate hearing regarding nearly 7,000 projects worth P190 billion added by the House without published documentation, prompting calls for the Senate to veto these additions.
• Other districts represented by top House officials also saw significant budget increases, with the second and third largest hikes going to Davao de Oro's 2nd District and Misamis Occidental's 2nd District.

This is AI-generated. Read the article for full context. Report any errors.

MANILA, Philippines – The congressional district of House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos in Ilocos Norte received the biggest increase in public works funding in the approved House spending bill for 2027, according to a budget watchdog.

Based on the transparency portal of volunteer-driven civic technology movement BetterGov.ph, Ilocos Norte’s 1st District was allocated P4.74 billion in project lists from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the House version of the 2027 General Appropriations Bill.

This is a significant increase of P4.38 billion from the P369 million that was originally proposed for the district in the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP).

The NEP is also called the President’s budget, a proposal submitted annually by the executive to Congress. The House, which is constitutionally mandated to come up with an appropriations bill, may amend that proposal.

BetterGov.ph said its portal does not make allegations of irregularity or wrongdoing by a public official, and only compares changes between the NEP and the House GAB.

“The (district engineering office) mapping associates offices with legislative districts; it does not establish that a representative requested, sponsored, or controlled a project, or that each project lies in every district associated with its office,” the website disclaimer reads.

During a Senate hearing though on Monday, October 26, Ken Abante of People’s Budget Coalition flagged the increases.

“Nearly 7,000 projects worth P190 billion were inserted by the House without published project attachments,” Abante said, adding that many of these projects involve the construction of multi-purpose buildings.

“If there are no published documents, the Senate should remove them. The Senate should veto them,” he added. “Our concern is that the House has still not learned its lesson or felt any shame, despite our marches and rallies.”

Rappler has asked Marcos’ office why and how the House decided to increase public works funding for his district by billions of pesos. We will update this story once his office replies.

Districts of top House officials also get budget hikes

Second and third on the list are the DPWH offices in Davao de Oro’s 2nd District and Misamis Occidental’s 2nd District, whose budgets increased by P1.68 billion and P1.65 billion, respectively, in the House-approved budget compared to the NEP.

Also in the top ten are DPWH district offices which serve the constituencies of:

• Senior Deputy Speaker Ferdinand Hernandez (budget of DPWH district office he shares with another lawmaker increased by P1.58 billion)
• House Speaker Bojie Dy (budget of DPWH district office he shares with another lawmaker increased by P1.52 billion)
• House appropriations chair Mika Suansing (budget of DPWH district office she shares with another lawmaker increased by P1.15 billion)
• Isabela 1st District Representative Tonypet Albano (DPWH district office’s budget increased by P1.08 billion)
• Isabela 3rd District Representative Ian Paul Dy (budget of DPWH district office he shares with another lawmaker increased by P993 million)

The changes in the budget introduced by the House are not yet final, as the Senate may either approve or reject the amendments.

Any differences in the budget bills they pass would be reconciled in the bicameral conference committee. – Rappler.com