By Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has ordered a freeze on P60 billion to P80 billion worth of infrastructure funds in the 2025 national budget, citing inconsistencies with the government’s Philippine Development Plan (PDP).
Palace Press Officer Clarissa A. Castro on Wednesday said the funds cover mostly Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects that were inserted during congressional deliberations. She declined to disclose details but said these allocations would not be released until further review.
“According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), most of these are DPWH infrastructure projects, and the majority were inserted by Congress,” she told reporters. “That is all the information provided to us by the DBM.”
The freeze marks one of the biggest budgetary actions under the Marcos administration, signaling a tougher stance against questionable infrastructure spending, particularly amid growing concerns about corruption in flood control and road projects.
Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto earlier this week noted that while Congress redirected P375 billion from programmed budget items into “unprogrammed funds,” whose release depends on tax revenues and special laws, the President had opted to veto only P26 billion outright.
He noted that even budget items that appear approved could be blocked if they include duplicate entries or lack alignment with development priorities.
Such “congressional insertions” often draw criticism for undermining coherence with broader economic and infrastructure goals.
Deliberations on the 2026 national budget are continuing in the House of Representatives, with Mr. Marcos expected to sign the spending plan by year-end.
The announcement of the freeze came hours after Mr. Marcos personally inspected an unfinished P55-million flood control project in Baliwag City, Bulacan province that government records had listed as completed.
The “ghost” project, described in documents as a 220-meter reinforced concrete river wall, showed no visible work on the ground, which the President called a “very clear case of falsification.”
“It’s very clear that it’s not completed,” Mr. Marcos told reporters in Filipino, based on a transcript sent by his office. “So immediately, that’s falsification. That’s already a very big violation.”
“And for the big ones, I’m really thinking hard… We will charge them with economic sabotage because economic sabotage is very clear,” he added.
The President said the contractor responsible for the Baliwag project would be blacklisted from government dealings, and its other projects placed under review.
A subsequent Facebook post from Mr. Marcos clarified that charges under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents would also be filed.
Mr. Marcos revealed that similar anomalies have been observed in other Bulacan towns. He cited substandard cement work in Calumpit and defective asphalt overlays in nearby projects, describing them as part of a recurring pattern of fraudulent infrastructure practices.
Last week, the President flagged 6,021 flood control projects since 2022 that lacked basic technical details. He said about 50 separate projects curiously carried the same contract price of P150 million each, raising suspicion of collusion.
“Where did the money go?” he asked. “We will run after it, and we will file cases against them. In the meantime, we still actually have to build the flood control project.”
The President said the Commission on Audit (CoA) has launched a fraud audit of infrastructure works in Bulacan. He added that a legal team is now studying whether cases could be filed nationwide depending on audit findings.
HIGH STAKES
To strengthen oversight, the palace urged citizens to report irregularities. Ms. Castro said the administration’s reporting platform sumbongsapangulo.ph, launched earlier this month to monitor flood control projects, had received more than 2,000 reports since Aug. 11.
Mr. Marcos encouraged the public to submit photos and videos of questionable projects, which engineers would then verify on the ground.
The crackdown comes after the President’s State of the Nation Address in July, when he pledged to hold erring contractors accountable after weeks of devastating floods triggered by the Southwest Monsoon and typhoons.
Political analysts noted that the handling of corruption in infrastructure projects could become a defining issue for the administration as it heads into the final stretch of Mr. Marcos’ term.
Ederson DT. Tapia, a political science professor at the University of Makati, said the stakes are high.
“If these corruption reports are pursued with genuine prosecution and systemic reform, the narrative becomes one of raising the bar, where 2028 aspirants will be compelled to present themselves as equally uncompromising on integrity,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
“But if the effort fades into half-measures or political theater, it will instead furnish ammunition for critics who will argue that the rhetoric of transparency never pierced the armor of entrenched interests,” he added.
The freeze on billions in infrastructure spending reflects a balancing act between delivering much-needed public works and protecting government coffers from misuse.
The DPWH accounts for one of the largest slices of the national budget, making it both central to development goals and vulnerable to political patronage and corruption.
For now, the administration has yet to disclose how the frozen funds will be realigned. Ms. Castro said she would consult with the Budget department on the next steps.
In the meantime, Mr. Marcos said the government’s focus remains on accountability and ensuring that infrastructure projects deliver their intended benefits.
