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Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson on Thursday said it would probably be more fitting to ask ‘who is not guilty?’ amid the deep and widespread corruption in relation to the government’s infrastructure programs.

According to Lacson, he and his staff reviewed ‘classified’ documents of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which he had flagged earlier for systematic anomalies in substandard and ghost flood control programs.

‘[We] all wondered aloud if the more appropriate question to ask is, ‘Who is not?’ rather than, ‘Who is guilty?’ So sad to realize how widely corrupt our government infrastructure program has gone,’ he said in a post on X.

He said these documents include those papers relating to flood control projects to farm-to-market roads, among others.

Lacson cited Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon’s initial findings that at least 421 out of some 8,000 flood control projects inspected by the DPWH, the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DepDev), the Philippine National Police, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines were ‘ghost’ projects.

He noted as well the revelation by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian that over P10 billion worth of farm-to-market roads programmed under the 2023 and 2024 national budgets have been ‘extremely overpriced.’

Gatchalian disclosed at least one project costing 23 times more than the standard price set by the Department of Public Works and Highways and other projects with markups of up to 70 percent.

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Lacson earlier said that almost all senators of the 19th Congress inserted at least P100 billion worth of items in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), mostly in favor of the DPWH, for infrastructure projects, including flood control.

He cited documents he had gathered showing these were individual insertions, although they were eventually held ‘for later release.’

He also said that members of the House of Representatives likewise made their own amendments or insertions in the 2025 national budget, with the total exceeding by ‘much, much more’ those made by the Senate.

Citing information he accessed, Lacson said the list of the House members who made insertions in the DPWH’s favor in last year’s GAA was several pages long, with the names in alphabetical order. ‘It was like a roll call,’ he lamented.

When asked if the amount was larger than the insertions made by senators, Lacson replied: ‘Much, much more.’

He explained that the DPWH received such massive insertions because many lawmakers were likely in collusion with the department’s corrupt officials to get their share of huge kickbacks from projects-even if it meant giving the DPWH a bigger budget than the education sector, which was in violation of the 1987 Constitution.

In privilege speeches earlier, Lacson revealed how DPWH officials pocketed public funds, some of them gambling away taxpayers’ money in casinos.

He also bared several money-making schemes involving various requirements, including irregularities done by junior DPWH personnel.

Classes in all levels, both in public and private schools, in Zamboanga City remain suspended on Thursday as rains brought by an intertropical convergence zone persisted. According to an advisory from the local government, school authorities were advised to adopt alternative learning modalities to sustain the delivery of education despite the disruption of face-to-face classes.

Amid incessant rains on Thursday, the local government continues to remind residents, especially in flood-prone areas, to take precautionary measures.

The moderate to heavy rain has resulted in flooding in several street sections since Tuesday, making the commute difficult. To address this, the local government deployed vehicles to ferry the stranded commuters for free.

The persistence of rain had affected some activities related to the Zamboanga Hermosa Festival 2025.

In a public notice, organizers of the Ginuman Fest 2025, scheduled for Friday, October 10, said that the venue for the event has been moved from the open grounds of the city’s integrated bus terminal to the Mayor Vitaliano Agan Coliseum in Tetuan village.

Friday’s festivities will kick off at 6 p.m. and will feature the performance of popular rock band 6 Cycle Mind./coa

Akbayan party-list Rep. Percival Cendaña has called out the transfer of unprogrammed funds for infrastructure projects in the proposed 2026 national budget to Foreign-Assisted Projects (FAP) – noting that it is just another unprogrammed appropriations (UA).

In a virtual interview on Thursday, Cendaña said that while allocations for the Strengthening Assistance for Government Infrastructure and Social Programs (SAGIP) were transferred to FAP, there is still a need to clarify where the funds would go because both are considered UA.

‘That is what we have observed, the reduction of the SAGIP projects, but when we saw it, it seems it was just transferred to the FAP, the Foreign Assisted Project,’ he said. ‘So we really need to scrutinize the allocations under UA.’ According to Cendaña, while there are reforms initiated for the budget process, it should be clarified how the UA will be appropriated.

‘Because while we have mentioned improvements, reforms, a lot still has to be explained, like the basic issues, like why are these items placed under the UA, if these are obligations that we should pay for our healthcare workers, if these are obligations under foreign loans when we implement foreign assisted projects,’ he said.

But Deputy Majority Leader and Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong allocations for FAP are necessary because the country just cannot renege on its obligations to projects backed by foreign loans.

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‘The Foreign Assisted, these mostly are big ticket projects, we cannot avoid that, we cannot just renege from our obligation to the agreement that we had with Foreign Assisted Projects. So we cannot turn back on that,’ Adiong, a vice chairperson of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations, said.

`Open to any abuses’

‘Number two, it’s a matter of really restricting, for example, it’s restricting the usage so that it may not be open to any abuses. That’s why we removed the infra projects from SAGIP, because that in a way is a room for probably using these funds to allocate to some projects that are not really that important,’ he added.

Adiong also assured the public that there are safeguards to ensure that the placement of SAGIP funds to FAP would not be prone to production.

‘So here, we prioritize. I mean it comes to the Foreign Assisted projects, we know that there are big ticket projects and there are guidelines on how to source out that fund,’ he said.

‘It’s not as easy as just getting a portion of that and using that indiscriminately to whatever programs that one may think should be allocated to,’ he added.

Earlier, Adiong was also asked about the presence of the payment for healthcare workers’ allowances during the COVID-19 pandemic in the proposed 2026 budget, even if these were already paid in 2025.

According to Adiong, both the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Department of Health (DOH) should explain this, agreeing with views that having line items for programs that have been completed raises suspicions.

‘Well, we cannot answer for DBM [.] I for one do not know how, but I’m sure the DBM has the perfect [.] explanation for that. But I cannot quite for certain give you a direct answer to that,’ Adiong, a vice chairperson of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations, told reporters.

‘Well, one would think of it that way,’ Adiong said when asked if having the line item for healthcare workers’ allowances was suspicious. ‘Because if it is already paid, of course, it should not be there. So again, it’s something that our executive department (should explain), but I’m pretty sure that they have the answer for that.’

Adiong explained that the discovery of the line item for health workers’ payments were made after agencies approached the BARSc, a sub-panel of the appropriations committee, about projects that they prefer to be prioritized.

DOH apparently told the BARSc that they have already completed the payments, and therefore can be removed from the proposed 2026 budget.

Last September 2, the DBM announced that it has released the P6.8 billion final balance for the payment of health emergency allowance to healthcare workers who served during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, or from 2021 to 2023.

This is not the first time, however, that there were reports of projects already completed being present in the 2026 National Expenditures Program. Early September, Deputy Speaker and Antipolo Rep. Ronaldo Puno suggested that the NEP be sent back to the DBM due to several problems – like the discovery of multiple or redundant entries. Puno revealed that Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) programs in the district level still received allocations despite these being completed already, citing the case of Marikina Rep. Marcelino Teodoro who experienced the said issue. Puno said he also checked the allocations for his own district – the first district of Antipolo – and he found out that projects provided by the district and regional engineering office of the DPWH were no longer in the NEP.

The Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) budget was not discussed by the Budget Amendments Review Subcommittee (BARSc) because the hearing only covered agencies that would receive additional funding from the realigned Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget.

This was the explanation given by House Deputy Majority Leader and Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong on Thursday when asked why the OVP’s proposed ?902.8-million budget for 2026 was not taken up by the BARSc – despite several calls to either reduce it or revert it to its 2025 level of ?733 million.

The BARSc met on Wednesday to finalize proposed amendments to the 2026 national budget, during which some agencies – including those in the education sector – received larger allocations. The realignment was sourced from the ?255.5 billion slashed from the DPWH budget. ‘Because what we talk about in the BARSc is the P255 billion that was taken from the original, initial request ng DPWH. These are the flood control, these are the programs that were removed, mostly infra, flood control, and we tried to redistribute that to those agencies that may be needing more funding,’ Adiong, a vice chairperson of the committee on appropriations, said.

‘So those agencies that are not present, they were not part of the augmentations or did not make a request from the P255 billion that was initially allotted to DPWH and later on was slashed [.] so that is what we talked about,’ he added.

According to Adiong, lawmakers who wish to make changes to the OVP budget can propose amendments during the period of amendments, which will be held on Friday, October 10.

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‘There’s a period of amendments, what we talked about in the BARSc is the institutional amendments because we have made adjustments. Remember when we had the first meeting at the BARSc, there were line items that agencies want to reduce, they said that it is not their priority,’ he said.

‘So definitely since we would open a period of amendments, we expect that there are individual amendments that will be raised, especially from the Minority bloc, we are expecting that there will be a couple of motions and proposed amendments, individual amendments coming from their side,’ he added.

Several lawmakers from the Minority called for the reduction of the OVP budget after Vice President Sara Duterte failed to show up or send an undersecretary-level representative to the plenary debates.

According to ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, he would push for the reduction of OVP’s budget – from P902 million to just P198 million, or the OVP’s proposed personal services (PS). Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima said that because of Duterte’s actions, she initially thought of proposing to cut OVP’s budget to zero, but she said thinking of employees prompted her to just push for a budget cut. Adiong, for his part, prefers that the OVP budget for 2025 be the same amount given to the agency for 2026. Also, the lawmaker maintained that OVP will not get a budget cut should the House retain the P733 million that was given to the said office for 2025.

‘I just want to also correct the term, because the budget of the OVP is still a request – the P900 (million), so if you if you try to really assess and just to use the right term, it is not really a decrease because there is a pending request for an additional P200 (million). THis means the working draft or the baseline is the P733 million,’ he said.

The environment group Interfacing Development Intervention (IDIS) welcomed Davao Oriental Governor Nelson Dayanghirang’s sudden turnaround to stop mining in Mati City’s Barangay Macambol, an area very close to Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

But the group said the damage had already been done, and someone had to be held accountable for it.

Instead the group called on the provincial government headed by Dayanghirang, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the region and all relevant agencies to immediately suspend and revoke the mining operations in Macambol and surrounding areas; conduct a full environmental and social audit; file administrative and legal actions against violators and their enablers and implement a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for the over 200 hectares of damaged land. ‘IDIS welcomes the provincial leadership for finally recognizing the urgency of the issue,’ said the group’s statement, referring to Dayanghirang’s call for public support on Monday to stop a mining operation that reportedly destroyed a 200-hectare land in Mati City’s Barangay Macambol.

‘But we must also confront the reality that this response came far too late. The damage has already been done, and its consequences are now being felt by communities, ecosystems and future generations,’ the group said in a statement sent to reporters.

Dayanghirang said during a stakeholders’ dialog in Mati City on Monday, October 6, that a resolution calling for a stop to the mining operations would soon be passed in the Provincial Board after mining had destroyed 200-hectares of forest land in the area which could also affect the planned Macalula Road Network Loop Project that would link Macambol with the neighboring villages of Cabuaya, Luban and Lanca.

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He also stressed the need to protect the environment, especially since the mining operation was very close to the buffer zone of Mt. Hamiguitan.

Warning against threats

Lawyer Mark Peñalver, executive director of IDIS, expressed surprise as the group had been warning against the threats that large-scale mining posed in the area for years, but their warning had fallen on deaf ears.

Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary has been recognized for its unique and fragile biodiversity and as home to rare and endemic species of wildlife like the Philippine Eagle; and the pygmy forest ecosystem

IDIS said the provincial government’s acknowledgment of the environmental damages was both a ‘welcome and painful validation.and a stark reminder that when environmental protection is delayed, the costs multiply, and the victims are the poor and the powerless.’ ‘While we recognize this long-overdue action, IDIS underscores that the damage has already been done – with over 200 hectares of land degraded and threats now extending to the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary and Pujada Bay Protected Landscape and Seascape,’ said part of the group’s statement.

For more than a decade, residents of Barangay Macambol and environmental advocates have repeatedly sounded the alarm on the dangers posed by large-scale mining in the area, but these warnings were met with silence or denial.

In 2022, IDIS released a public statement warning that the mining operations in Macambol posed serious threats to both the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary and the Pujada Bay Protected Landscape and Seascape but government agencies only dismissed these concerns, reasoning that the site was technically outside the protected area boundaries, disregarding the reality that pollution, siltation and deforestation do not stop at invisible lines on a map.

Hallmark Mining Corporation, which operates a mine in the area, released a statement saying it shared the ‘deep concern’ with the provincial government and that it was committed to ‘responsible mining.’ IDIS, however, said it rejected the notion that large-scale mining could ever be ‘responsible’ in a country with fragile ecosystems, weak regulatory enforcement, and communities already suffering from poverty and displacement. ‘Mining, by its very nature, is extractive and destructive,’ it said. ‘If the company’s operations were truly responsible, how do we explain the 200 hectares of ravaged land?’

Tropical Storm Nakri entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) Thursday afternoon, Oct. 9.

In its 12:40 p.m. update, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) announced that Tropical Storm Nakri – now locally named Quedan – is already inside PAR.

Pagasa said that Tropical Cyclone Bulletins for Quedan will be issued starting at 5 p.m. Before entering PAR, Quedan (international name: Nakri) was monitored 1,445 kilometers east of extreme northern Luzon, packing maximum winds of 75 kilometers per hour (kph) with gusts up to 90 kph.

It was moving northwest at 25 kph.

Pagasa had earlier noted that the storm posed no direct impact on the country. /apl/abc

In a big win for clean and renewable energy in Mindanao, an electricity-intensive business operation here has shifted to geothermal power to run its facilities.

According to Donna Robles, chief operating officer of Mets Cold Storage Services, Inc., they have recently entered into an agreement with Energy Development Corp., a subsidiary of Lopez-owned First Gen, to supply its cold storage facility in Barangay Tablon here with geothermal energy.

The supply agreement, signed last October 3, covers up to 2,050 kilowatts of power for Mets’ expanding facility here, which currently offers more than 7,100 metric tons of cold storage capacity.

‘We are pleased to partner with First Gen to reduce the energy intensity of our cold storage operations,’ Robles said in a statement. The geothermal power will be wheeled from EDC’s Mt. Apo geothermal power plant in Cotabato province.

Robles said Mets’ tapping of renewable energy marks a major step toward greener operations.

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‘This move will reduce not just our energy cost but our carbon footprint as well, while providing a stable power supply,’ Robles pointed out.

Arlene Sy-Soriano, assistant vice president and head of sales and engagement at First Gen, said the partnership aligns with both companies’ sustainability goals.

‘Cold storage is critical for ensuring safety and sanitation across the food and pharmaceutical supply chains,’ she said. ‘We are committed to partnering with Mets to ensure they can power their cold storage operations sustainably with a steady supply of renewable energy.’

Large power customers have the option to source supply directly from generators, as provided under the open access provision of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.