MANILA — House leaders said infrastructure projects with incomplete documentation or missing and inaccurate geographical coordinates would be removed during the bicameral conference committee deliberations on the proposed 2027 national budget.

“Pag kulang, tanggal,” Appropriations Vice Chairperson and Camarines Sur 4th District Rep. Arnie B. Fuentebella said during a press briefing, outlining the House leadership’s position on questionable project entries.

FPJ Panday Bayanihan Party-list Rep. Brian Poe echoed the statement, saying projects without supporting documents or verifiable geotags would not be allowed to proceed in the bicameral deliberations.

“No papers, no geo-tag or maling geo-tag, pagdating sa bicam, tanggal,” Poe said.

“We will not accept projects that have no proper papers, proper coordinates because that is unfair to the constituents, and that is also unfair to the representatives who have been working so hard to make sure that the people get the right kind of projects, especially in this budget.”

The lawmakers made the remarks in response to questions about reported documentation issues involving 355 infrastructure projects worth approximately ₱6 billion.

House Committee on Appropriations Senior Vice Chairperson and Bataan 2nd District Rep. Albert Raymond S. Garcia, meanwhile, called for the identification of the specific projects so lawmakers could verify their records with the implementing agencies.

“Itong ating mga projects na in-identify, lahat po ito from the executive, whether it’s Department of Agriculture, DPWH, NIA, DAR, lahat po ito may proper documentation. So to be fair and we’re open to critics, ano po yung mga projects na ito para macheck po natin mismo kung may kakulangan,” Garcia said.

He added that any deficiencies identified should be corrected, stressing the need to examine individual project entries rather than make general allegations against thousands of proposed infrastructure projects.

“At kung may kakulangan, let us rectify. Kasi ang hirap, ilan, 6,000 projects? Ang hirap ng sweeping… so sana let’s be, yung palagi ko sinasabi from the start, let’s be specific.”

Garcia cited a farm-to-market road project that was flagged after its submitted coordinates reportedly placed its location at sea. He said the Department of Agriculture later confirmed that the discrepancy resulted from a typographical error.

Fuentebella also encouraged civil society organizations to identify and report specific inconsistencies in project documents and geotags while the proposed spending measure remains under review.