Palace: Criticism of billions reallocated to Sandro Marcos’ district ‘premature’

MANILA — Criticisms of the reallocation of billions to the district of President Ferdinand Marcos’ lawmaker son are “premature,” Malacañang said on Thursday, as budget watchdogs hit House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos for topping the list of House members who redirected funds to their own constituencies.

The district engineering office in the younger Marcos’ Ilocos Norte bailiwick was given P4.37 billion in reallocated funds under the proposed 2027 national budget, according to a study by the People’s Budget Coalition.

Caloocan 2nd Rep. Edgar Erice has also lambasted Rep. Marcos, calling moving billions of pesos from priority projects into a single district an act of “callousness.”

“Hindi pa po ibig sabihin na na-propose po ito ay ibibigay na po lahat iyong P4 billion or sinumang magbibigay ng kanilang mga proposed projects sa [Department of Public Works and Highways]. Hindi pa po dito natatapos,” Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a press conference in Bukidnon.

(Proposing it doesn’t mean the entire P4 billion will be approved. That goes for anyone who submits proposed projects to the DPWH. That’s not the end of the story.)

Castro said critics should show that evidence that the proposed funds have already been lost to corruption. She also stressed that the House approval is only one step in the budget process

She added the president is not inclined to keep reallocations that lack details and justification.


“Hindi maaaring magastos ang pondo sa walang saysay, walang pakinabang na proyekto,” she said.

(Public funds cannot be used for senseless and useless projects.)  

The Palace also urged budget watchdogs to help the Marcos administration police possible irregularities under the proposed spending bill for 2027.

Castro however also said critics should refrain from using coarse language when they do so.

In the People’s Budget Coalition report, most of the House members who bagged the biggest reallocations for their districts are President Marcos Jr.’s allies.

Appropriations Committee chairperson Mikaela Suansing of Nueva Ecija, House Speaker Faustino Dy III and other politicians from his home province Isabela also gave their districts billions in funds.

The Senate has yet to pass its version of the 2027 spending bill, and has yet to announce a date for the bicameral conference committee where the legislative chambers are expected to reconcile their versions of the budget before submitting it for the president’s signature.