Lacson: Imee has at least P2.5-B 'allocable' in 2025 budget

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson on Sunday denounced Senator Imee Marcos’s allegations regarding the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA), adding she has an allocable fund  in the 2025 budget based on the files of the late DPWH undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral.

“Si Senator Imee, mayroon din doon. Kung hindi P2.5 billion, nasa P3.5 billion. 'Yung for later release niya, may mga na-release doon,” Lacson told Super Radyo dzBB.

(Senator Imee also has an allocable of P2.3 billion or P3.5 billion for her later release. Some of which have already been released.)

“Siya (Marcos) 'yung nag-iingay na tahasang kini-criticize niya ang napirmahang budget ng 2026. Kung ganun definition niya ng pork, siya nga ang mayroong pork [barrel]. So wala siyang moral ascendency para i-criticize,” he added.

(Marcos has been criticizing the signed 2026 national budget. If that’s her definition of pork barrel, she’s the one who has one. She has no moral ascendency to criticize.)

Marcos alleged that the 2026 GAA, which was signed by her brother, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., was not a developmental budget but a "political" budget.

She claimed that the 2026 budget was chopped into pieces to initiate fresh impeachment plans against Vice President Sara Duterte, as a new complaint may be filed in February, following the mandated one-year ban on such a complaint.

Marcos flagged that the alleged “soft pork” in the 2026 budget may come from the government’s financial assistance programs, such as the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) and Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS).

Lacson questioned Marcos’ failure to raise her allegations during the Bicameral Conference Committee, refuting the latter’s claims that she and other senators were barred from speaking out in the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

Lacson also said there is no evidence implicating former House Speaker Martin Romualdez is linked to the flood control scandal.

“Ang problema, sumulpot siya (Orly Guteza) minsan tapos nawala siya ng parang bula,” Lacson said.

(The problem is that witness Orly Guteza made claims once and has since disappeared.)

Guteza previously claimed that he personally delivered luggage of money to the residences of Romualdez and former lawmaker Zaldy Co.

Lacson invited Marcos to attend the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and showed whatever evidence she had, adding that he would extend the latter's time as needed.

In response, Marcos called Lacon's remarks laughable. 

"Medyo nakakatawa siya, 'di niya alam na lahat yan ay wishlist na binigay sa DPWH Central Office. 
Clueless ba siya na kaming mga oposisyon lahat FLR or 'for later release' kaya ni isa diyan ay walang naibigay, ZERO KAMING LAHAT nila Bong Go, Bato at Robin!" she said in a statement.

"At, malay ko ba sa ALLOCABLES NG ADMIN, sa aming dalawa, hindi ako ang abogada ng Malacañang," she added.

(He's rather laughable, he didn't know that that was all a wish list that was given to the DPWH Central Office. Is he clueless that all of us in the opposition are FLR or 'for later release,' so not one of those was given. Bong Go, Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, Robin Padilla and I all got zero.

And what do I know about the allocables of the administration. Of the two of us, I'm not the one who is the lawyer for Malacañang.) — RF/BM, GMA Integrated News