Who are the masterminds of ‘allocable funds’?

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) recently published a report on the newest words added to Philippine lexicon, “allocable funds.”

- ANDREW J. MASIGAN

The report’s author, Guinevere Lartoza, defines it accurately as, and I paraphrase: discretionary budget allocations from the DPWH that are assigned to specific congressional districts. These funds are discretionary, politically motivated and directed toward politically determined projects. In other words, they function as a modern form of pork barrel funds since legislators maintain substantial influence over their use.

From 2023 to 2025, “allocable funds” amounted to a staggering P1.2 trillion. Let that sink in... Former speaker Martin Romualdez presided over three national budgets wherein P1.2 trillion worth of pork was imbedded and all three were approved by PBBM. For context, P1.2 trillion is equivalent to about 20 percent of the country’s national budget per year.

The PCI} further reported that Reps. Sandro Marcos and Martin Romualdez received the highest shares of pork /allocable funds. Marcos was allotted P15.8 billion while Romualdez bagged P14.4 billion over the past three years.

How the President's relatives secured such large allocations remains unclear since the formula for determining “allocables” is understood only by one DPWH undersecretary, Catalina Cabral. What is clear, however, is that Ilocos Norte’s Ist District - home to fewer than 320,000 people - received nearly double the P7.8-billion allocation given to Rizal's 1st District, the country’s most densely populated district with 1.2 million residents.

This new form of pork raises multiple red flags.