By Perfecto T. Raymundo, Jr.
QUEZON CITY – Anti-corruption advocates would not stop in exposing anomalies in government, particularly on projects and programs included in the National Expenditures Program (NEP), including the foreign-assisted projects (FAPs).
In a press conference on Saturday (Aug. 9) in Kamuning Bakery Café hosted by Bobby Purisima, Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab said that last Monday (Aug. 4) he delivered a privilege speech particularly on automatic appropriations and the use of the general fund.
Rep. Ungab had exposed the alleged anomalies in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
He presented his privilege speech with the Supreme Court as a piece of evidence.P12.7 billion was added to the Special General Fund (SGF).
“14 items were violated by them,” Ungab said.
Ungab does not belong to the majority nor to the minority in the House of Representatives.
The “power points” that he is doing is ongoing.
When Rep. Ungab was the Chairman of the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, he used to summon the DBCC (Development Budget Coordinating Committee) and the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways).
As early as 2024, Ungab has already discovered the anomalies in the national budget.
The minutes of the Archives of the House and the Senate should be looked into.
The automatic appropriations, which have special laws, and the new program appropriations and unprogrammed appropriations which are the segments of the GAA.
The general appropriations and the unprogrammed appropriations is the total budget submitted by the President under the NEP.
He would not touch on the new programmed appropriations and the unprogrammed appropriations.
The special accounts and the general appropriations are earmarked from revenues, excise fees or charges in the general fund or the law and it is not anymore taken up.
13 items in the special accounts in the general fund for a total 13 laws superseded by the general fund.
In 2012, the Sin Tax Law helped the country a lot for the health of the Filipinos. It decreased smoking incidents. 80% goes to PhilHealth and the balance goes to DOH.
He remembered that when the Sin Tax Law was passed into law, it is one of the big sources of revenues of the government because many Filipinos are smoking.
80% for the incremental revenues from the Sin Tax Law and the Excise Law will go to PhilHealth but there was a zero appropriation for PhilHealth last year.
P74 billion was supposed to be used for the Universal Health Law, but Congress allotted zero budget for augmentation or subsidy to PhilHealth, hence, you have to wait for another year to have a budget.
Rep. Ungrab was the author of the Sin Tax Law, and the 13 special laws where the automatic appropriations should increase.
The total special accounts in the general account was increased to P12.7 billion. In short, the budget P6.352 trillion plus P12.7 billion which makes the 2025 Budget unconstitutional.
UIGF (Use of Income in the General Fund). In the line item appropriation, P34 billion, including the additional P17 billion but in the General Appropriations Act, it was still P16 billion.
Motor Vehicle Use Law (MVUL) where the payments for the vehicles. The MVUC Fund is based on the MVUL Most likely, other funds were used for that.
The “power point” presentation of Rep. Ungab was not shown in Congress.
The budget is the financial interpretation of the projects and programs of the government, as well as the national investment plan being studied by the NEDA and the Regional Development Councils.
Any revision of the general appropriations act will deviate from the Philippine Development Plan.
Poverty reduction goal was supposed to be single digit, but we are not hitting it because many programs are deleted such as the AKAP, which was deleted from the Philippine Development Plan and the investment.
“We keep deviating from our Philippine Development Plan,” Ungab said.
He noted that P981 billion was allotted to DepEd, P900 billion to DPWH, but P20 billion was deducted from DepEd and P200 billion was added to DPWH.
“In another words, the budget of the DPWH ballooned to PHP1.1trillion surpassing the budget of DepEd,” Ungab said.
Rep. Ungab is not a contractor and he is just a humble farmer. He agreed with the ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) declaring the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte as “unconstitutional” and he also agreed with the decision of the Senate to archive the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Ungab became a Davao City Councilor in 1995 and he was elected as Congressman in 2007. He is an economist and a former banker.
Atty. Jimmy Bondoc aid that they were bothered by the statement of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. that he would not hesitate to have a Reenacted Budget if the alleged anomalies in the flood control projects will continue to persist.
P90 billion was the total budget for “ayuda” in 2025. “Why are we clapping on the reenacted budget of a ‘bad budget’,” Bondoc said, who was a former PAGCOR Director.
Falsification, forcing the witnesses in their investigation-in-aid of legislation, detention of witnesses, especially when he sent a Filipino to another country.
Jigs Magpantay, of Citizens Crime Watch, said that the biggest problem of the country is corruption.
Magpantay added that when President Marcos said “Mahiya naman kayo!”, he should have pointed his finger to the lawmakers.
In the budgeting, the civil society organizations should be included. In the implementation of the projects, “we should collaborate and help each other’.
In the line budgeting, the contractors are also the congressmen themselves. “We always blame the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) as they are the implementors of the projects,” Magpantay said.
More than 50% of the officials now at the DPWH are “non-eligible’ and they are recommended by politicians so that they can easily be dictated upon.
Most of the DPWH officials are non-executive service eligibles. For as long as this is not corrected by the Civil Service Commission (CSC), “nothing will happen to us,” Magpantay added.
He noted that 70% of the officials of the DPWH are non-career service executive eligible, which should be looked into by concerned government officials.
Magpantay stressed that the dismissal and archiving of the articles of impeachment are two different things.
Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong (via zoom meeting), said that the “favorite projects of our lawmakers, especially in the House of Representatives.”
Magalong was surprised by the pictures and pieces of evidence sent to him, which showed that the congressmen are also the contractors wherein they just give “royalty” to another contractor for a certain commission.
The mayor has a picture of a 9-meter sheet pile but when the embankment was destroyed, it was found that a sheet pile was just one meter.
Magalong said that an engineer explained to him that they also put stones in their projects.
“What’s saddening here is that it endangers the lives of our countrymen,” he said.
According to Magalong, a material costing P24 per kilo is sold at P38 to P39 per kilo, which is how the “mark-up” of the DPWH was big so that they can give something to the corrupt officials.
He said that there are now three incumbent congressmen in Luzon area who are allegedly involved in such anomalous practices and many more information are reaching him about such nefarious activities.
“It’s all over the country. It’s how massive the corruption is, which prompted President Marcos to say “Mahiya naman kayo!” in his fourth SONA,” Magalong said.
Magalong was “verbally designated” to lead the investigation into such irregular project implementation nationwide. “Our investigating agencies would not lose projects that must be investigated,” he said.
He was surprised that the House of Representatives is now investigating such anomalous projects and he is willing to join the House investigation.
‘I am willing and enthusiastic to even lead the investigation. If in case I will be invited in Congress, I hope they will not treat me arrogantly,” Magalong said.
Magalong was frustrated with the slow action in the Baguio City in coming up with a resolution concerning the DPWH involving graft and corruption in the agency.
He said that the corrupt officials are also enhancing their “best practices” in order to gain more profit.
“There will be no letup. This is the only legacy that we can pass on to our children and grandchildren,” Magalong said.
Atty. Ferdinand Topacio said “I must admit that I am not competent about what is now being discussed here, but with the privilege speech of Rep. Ungab, I can now understand it.”
Topacio cited Senator Ping Lacson and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian who would publish the list of lawmakers cum contractors engaged in the alleged anomalous flood control projects.
In behalf of the PDP-Laban, Topacio commended Senate President Chiz Escudero in taking the swift action on the impeachment articles against the Vice President.
Topacio also slammed House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez in hitting the ruling of the Supreme Court declaring as “unconstitutional” the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte.
Topacio said it’s good that the impeachment articles were just archived, adding that, Sen. Francis Pangilinan seems to be “ignorant of the law” when he said that the Supreme Court should have ruled otherwise.
“We commend the Senate. We commend Senate President Chiz Escudero,” Topacio said.
“We respect Justice Adolf Azcuna (Ret.) as one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution,” he added.
Topacio cited the limitations of the powers on the impeachment of impeachable officials.
He said that the critics of the Supreme Court do not seem to understand Section 1, Article 8 of the 1987 Constitution.
Topacio added that the framers of the Constitution thought that the Supreme Court is the final interpreter of the one-year bar rule when it comes to impeachment in the House of Representatives.
“We have always been supportive of the Rule of Law,” Topacio said. ###
