Marcos Cousin, Duterte Brother Got Biggest Slices Of Philippine Infrastructure Budget

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) It pays to be close to the highest officials in the Philippines, especially if you are a legislator seeking the biggest slice of the country's infrastructure spending. An investigation found that some of the House of Representatives (HOR) members whose districts received the largest allocations for infrastructure projects in recent years have close ties to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Vice President Sara Duterte.

Rep Martin Romualdez, cousin of Marcos, overtook Rep Paolo Duterte, brother of Sara, in terms of infrastructure project funds coursed through the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

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From 2020 to 2022, Duterte's 1st District of Davao City received P51 billion in DPWH infrastructure spending – this was during Rodrigo Duterte's last three years as president. Former HOR appropriations committee chair and now self-styled whistleblower, Elizaldy Co, described the younger Duterte's slice as the“largest” funding a district ever got in the country's history.

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Meanwhile, in the first three years of the Marcos presidency, from 2023 to 2025, Romualdez's 1st District of Leyte received P57 billion, according to budget records obtained by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).

Romualdez was at the time Speaker of the House and fourth highest Philippine official who was forced to resign the leadership of the chamber when the flood control scandal broke out last year.

How the (budget) pie is sliced

The DPWH's budget is dependent on HOR members who determine how much their district should get in terms of infrastructure funds. The closer a representative is to the highest elected officials – such as the president – the bigger their slice of the pie is.

In the report, the PCIJ said the swings in DPWH indicate that political influence, rather than infrastructure needs, determine the allocations of public works funds.

Romualdez already submitted budget“requests” to the Department of Budget and Management that would include them in the proposed national budget HOR would eventually approve, the report revealed.

During budget deliberations, both congressmen and senators may even increase the budget for each district in a scheme called“insertions.”

People's Budget Coalition co-convenor AJ Montesa said that budget insertions and reductions made by lawmakers during deliberations“really tells a story of how Congress can influence the budget.”

Before his removal as HOR Speaker in 2025, Romualdez was still instrumental in budget deliberations that approved P31.395 billion for his district that is not even among the most populous in the country. The presidential cousin represents 260,000 while the biggest district in the country, Rizal's first district with 1.24 million residents, received less than half.

When the slice becomes thin

Meanwhile, Davao City 1st District's infrastructure budget dropped from tens of billions per year to“only” P570 million last year.

This is only P20 million higher than the districts with the lowest DPWH budgets, such as Rizal Province's 4thDistrict and Zamboanga City's 1st District with P570 million each.

Montesa clarified however that not all legislators misuse funds, especially if their budget requests are backed by feasibility studies and actual need.“It shouldn't be a problem if these are really meant to target underserved areas. But the concentration of projects and budgets there might come to the detriment of the more underserved areas,” he added.

Some lawmakers, meanwhile, do not have infrastructure funds, saying they do not want to participate in the corruption associated with DPWH projects. They are Senator Panfilo Lacson and Makabayan Representatives Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers' Partylist, Sarah Elago of Gabriela Women's Partylist, and Renee Co of Kabataan Youth Partylist.

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