Lacson renews call to abolish 'leadership fund,' calls it worse than pork barrel

Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson on Thursday renewed his call to abolish the "Leadership Fund" or allocables from the national budget, saying the mechanism is a "worse version" of the outlawed pork barrel system because it allows lawmakers to influence the budget even before Congress begins deliberations.

Lacson said the testimony of former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Manuel Bonoan, along with recent developments involving anomalous flood control projects, highlighted how the Leadership Fund provided legislators an opportunity to make budget insertions during the preparation phase of the national budget.

"The Leadership Fund aka 'allocables' is a worse version of the outlawed pork barrel system. It added another layer that provided legislators opportunity to make budget insertions even during the Preparation Phase of the national budget, or before the National Expenditure Program (NEP) is transmitted to the Congress for deliberations by both chamber, where further insertions could still be introduced," Lacson noted.

"With all that said, I maintain that such anomaly in the passage of the national budget must stop," he added.

Lacson also argued that lawmakers can participate in the budget preparation process through local development councils, where they may represent their respective districts in preparing local development plans.

"LEADERSHIP FUND is not only a descendant of the outlawed 'pork barrel' but also its worst version. Why would members of Congress dip their hands in the budget preparation phase outside of the local development councils preparation of the their local development plans where they are allowed to represent their districts?" he said in a post on X.

Before the legislative phase

The Leadership Fund surfaced in September last year, when Bonoan mentioned the mechanism during a Senate Blue Ribbon hearing chaired by Lacson on the flood control scandal.

Lacson then asked how lawmakers were able to insert projects into the proposed budget even before it entered the legislative phase.

Bonoan said the DPWH consolidated project proposals requested by lawmakers into the NEP, including through the Senate Leadership Fund.

He said the proposals were vetted by the DPWH planning service to ensure that the projects being included were "consistent with development programs."

Bonoan also said insertions were allowed at the NEP stage to avoid complications during the bicameral conference committee.

This prompted Lacson to point out that the role of lawmakers is in the authorization phase, when the budget bill is submitted to Congress for deliberation.

Billions in allocations

Lacson said the Leadership Fund also helps explain how the public came to know of individual allocations amounting to billions of pesos for legislators.

He cited P6.79 billion for former Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and P4.7 billion for Senator Pilar Juliana "Pia" Cayetano in Taguig City under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

According to Lacson, such individual allocations in Taguig City—one local government unit with two legislative districts—led to what he described as "illegal reclamation disguised as slope protection and flood mitigation projects."

He said these projects are now the subject of an investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman and forfeiture proceedings by the Philippine Reclamation Authority.

Lacson also pointed to former Senate President Vicente Sotto III in discussing his earlier push to abolish the Leadership Fund.

He said his call for the fund's abolition after exposing the mechanism had threatened Sotto's Senate presidency, citing Bonoan's testimony before the Sandiganbayan last Wednesday that all senators in 2024 had at least P500 million in allocations for their priority projects under the Leadership Funds.

Lacson clarified that budget insertions do not automatically mean that public funds were misused, but warned that the practice could create opportunities for abuse.

"While insertions per se do not automatically translate to misuse of public funds, it could open the floodgates of abuse and misuse of public funds for some corrupt politicians," he added. — VDV, GMA News