P27.4B insertions tagged to Romualdez upon instruction of Cabral—DPWH engineer

MANILA — Budget insertions worth P27.43 billion were tagged to former House Speaker Martin Romualdez upon the instruction of late Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Catalina Cabral, a DPWH official testified on Monday.

DPWH Programming Division chief Peter Paul Cortes made the testimony during the Sandiganbayan Third Division’s bail hearing on Romualdez’s plunder case involving alleged ill-gotten wealth worth P7.4 billion from government infrastructure projects.

Cortes said the 444 projects worth P27.43 billion were not included in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) or the agency’s Annual Budget Proposal (ABP) but appeared in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

He added that the projects did not undergo the agency’s vetting process and had no supporting feasibility studies.

“So gulatan na lang?” Associate Justice Ronald Moreno asked.

“I definitely know na walang vetting po [sa projects]… walang dumaan sa amin [na supporting prior study],” Cortes replied.

Asked if former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co, who previously chaired the House Appropriations Committee, was also listed as a proponent of the projects alongside Romualdez, Cortes said both names appeared in the agency’s database.

“Per record of our database, they are actually tagged as proponents. Actually, our term there is ‘inserted,’” he said.

“So most likely these have been passed through the initiative of the Chair of the Appropriations Committee?” Moreno asked, to which Cortes answered in the affirmative.

He said Cabral instructed him to encode the names of Romualdez and Co as proponents in the agency’s database.

The prosecution is set to present Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco as witness on Nov. 10, in the continuation of the proceedings.