‘Leadership Funds’: A backdoor budget for lawmakers?

The national budget follows a process that, at least on paper, is straightforward. The executive branch prepares the budget through the National Expenditure Program (NEP) and submits it to Congress. The House of Representatives and the Senate then deliberate on the proposed budget, make changes, and approve the General Appropriations Bill. The President may then sign the budget into law and also veto specific items. But the flood control corruption investigation revealed that lawmakers would have a hand in the NEP even before it is formally submitted to Congress. This practice, referred to as allocating “leadership funds” or having “allocables,” adds another layer to the budget process. It gives lawmakers an opportunity to insert projects during the preparation phase, behind closed doors, before the NEP is transmitted to Congress for deliberation. Rappler’s series of investigations has revealed that several lawmakers and other public officials are linked to companies that secured multibillion-peso infrastructure projects, some of them owned by the lawmakers themselves or by their relatives, raising conflict of interest questions. The leadership funds, as coined by former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Manuel Bonoan, came under scrutiny anew after he testified before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan on Wednesday, August 12, that senators received these funds. Bonoan claimed that P24 billion had been allocated for senators since 2024, but the amount each senator received was allegedly subject to the discretion of then-Senate president Migz Zubiri. Zubiri, in response, said, “For the record, as Senate President, I never requested, held or handled any list of project requests from senators.” He noted that senators’ requests are coursed through the Senate committee on finance, which oversees budget deliberations at the upper chamber. “With that said, I see nothing wrong with making institutional amendments to support roads, bridges, airports, seaports and other critical infrastructure for far-flung communities, as long as these are requested and approved by the implementing agency, properly carried out and free from any interference driven by personal interests or corruption,” he said. “Almost all legislators, from senators to members of the House of Representatives, introduce amendments to the budget,” he added. The brains behind this scheme are Bonoan and the late DPWH undersecretary Cathy Cabral, Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said. In Malacañang, Palace press officer Claire Castro said that the President has “no personal knowledge” of any alleged arrangement between Bonoan and Zubiri in relation to the leadership fund. She also shared the statement of DPWH chief Vince Dizon that his agency’s proposed 2027 budget does not provide for any leadership fund or allocables. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism earlier reported that the President’s son, Ilocos Norte 1st District Representative Sandro Marcos, and then-speaker Martin Romualdez got the biggest shares of “allocable” funds from 2023 to 2025. So, what’s wrong with leadership funds? Lacson said the leadership funds or allocables is the “worst version” of the pork barrel as it circumvents the regular budget process. He renewed his call to abolish them. Budget preparation is “within the domain of the executive down to the local levels, the local government units,” Lacson said in a statement earlier in the week. Lacson said allowing insertions at the NEP stage may be intended to avoid complications during the bicameral conference committee, where the House and Senate reconcile differences in their respective versions of the budget. “Leadership fund is not only a descendant of the outlawed ‘pork barrel’ but also its worst version. Why would members of Congress dip their hands in the budget preparation phase outside of the local development councils preparation of their local development plans where they are allowed to represent their districts?” Lacson asked. If legislators are able to identify, negotiate, or insert projects while the executive branch is still preparing the NEP, they are effectively participating in a stage of the budget process that is primarily the executive’s responsibility. “While insertions per se do not automatically translate to misuse of public funds, it could open the floodgates of abuse and misuse of public funds for some corrupt politicians,” Lacson said. There are several reforms to ensure transparency. The bicam was seen by the public for the first time in 2025. DPWH launched a transparency website. The media and civil society are closely tuning in to the budget deliberations. But with the leadership funds and allocables and connivance between the members of the executive and legislative, the budget deliberations seem to be a staged act. For 2027, Senator JV Ejercito, the new Senate finance committee chairperson, assured the public he will not allow leadership funds. “So it will not happen again. Nothing like that will happen,” he promised, as quoted in an Inquirer report on Friday, August 14. – Rappler.com