MANILA – Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Sunday revealed that senators inserted at least P100 billion worth of items in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), raising questions over the size and transparency of the allocations.

In an interview on DZMM, Lacson said documents he reviewed showed that “almost all” senators in the 19th Congress had individual insertions, which were eventually placed under “For Later Release” (FLR).

“Sa Senate pa lang, at least P100 bilyon. Nagulat nga ako, sa individual insertions ito, ito naka-FLR ngayon,” Lacson said. “Pagkalalaki. Never pa ako nakakita… noong araw di pa declared unconstitutional ang PDAF nandoon lang sa hundreds of millions. E ngayon nakita ko ang total, kabuuan at least P100 billion (It was humongous. I have never seen such amounts. Before the Priority Development Assistance Fund was declared unconstitutional, ‘pork’ amounted to hundreds of millions. Now it’s at least P100 billion total for 24 senators alone).”

Lacson noted he has yet to scrutinize the House list but described it as “long.” He said he intends to raise the issue in budget deliberations to determine why such insertions were allowed and how much of these have been released and implemented.

He stressed that while amendments are not necessarily illegal, allocations as high as ₱5 billion or ₱9 billion per lawmaker are questionable and may divert funds away from vetted infrastructure projects at the barangay, city, and regional levels.

Lacson renewed his call for lawmakers to exercise restraint in inserting projects into the budgets of agencies such as the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Education, and Department of Transportation. He also appealed to colleagues not to avail of the “leadership fund” in the DPWH that allows project insertions at the level of the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

On DWIZ, Lacson said Congress must restore public trust after being tainted by the flood control project scandal, where some incumbent and former lawmakers were linked to alleged kickbacks.

“We must start the process of reform with the preparations for the 2026 budget. The timing is right because the budget bill is now under deliberation,” he said.

A scheduled meeting last Friday between Senate and House leaders to discuss the matter was postponed due to bad weather. Lacson said he planned to call for self-restraint in fund insertions, particularly in locally funded infrastructure projects handled by district engineering offices.