Duterte allies file graft raps over alleged 2025 budget anomalies

Allies of former President Rodrigo Duterte and a non-government organization filed criminal and graft complaints Monday against Speaker Martin Romualdez and five others over alleged billions worth of insertions in the 2025 national budget.

Former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, PDP-Laban senatorial bet Atty. Jimmy Bondoc, Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, Citizens Crime Watch (CCW) president Diego Magpantay, and Atty. Virgilio Garcia filed 12 counts each of falsification of legislative documents and graft with the Office of the Ombudsman against the respondents.

They alleged that Romualdez, House Majority Leader Manuel Jose "Mannix" Dalipe, former House appropriations committee chairperson and Ako Bicol Party-list Representative Zaldy Co, acting House appropriations panel chairperson Stella Quimbo, and one John Doe and Jane Doe were involved in the P241 billion worth of insertions in the P6.325 trillion national budget for 2025.

In a statement, Dalipe said that the passage of the 2025 national budget is legal and a matter of responsibility.

“Passing the national budget is not a crime; it is a fundamental responsibility of Congress (House and Senate). Any attempt to portray it otherwise is a clear distortion of facts and an attack on the legislative process itself,” Dalipe said.

“The national budget is the lifeblood of government operations, ensuring the delivery of essential services and the implementation of vital projects for the Filipino people,” he added.

Limiting the respondents to House leaders, Dalipe said, also smacks of ill-motiveness on the part of the complainants.

“The budget process is a shared responsibility. It undergoes thorough deliberations and scrutiny by [both Houses of] Congress before it is transmitted to the President for final approval. Yet, the focus on one chamber alone suggests a deliberate effort to mislead the public and cast doubt on the integrity of the House’s work. More telling is the involvement of former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez as one of the complainants,” he said.

“As a sitting member of the House during the deliberations of the 2025 General Appropriations Bill, he (Alvarez) had every opportunity to raise objections, question allocations, and point out any supposed infirmities during plenary discussions. Yet, he did not. His silence during the legislative process and his sudden emergence as a complainant only reinforce the fact that these accusations are not grounded on actual violations but are politically motivated,” Dalipa added.

Further, the Zamboanga city lawmaker questioned the timing of the filing of the complaint since the House recently voted to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte.

“It is also worth noting that these accusations come at a time when the House is taking a firm stand on accountability, particularly in addressing serious questions surrounding certain budgetary allocations. “The timing raises suspicions that they are merely retaliatory tactics aimed at deflecting attention from the real issue: the proper and lawful use of taxpayer money,” he said.

“We will not be swayed by political theatrics meant to divert attention from the real issues of transparency and accountability,” Dalipe added.

GMA News Online sought the comment of Romualdez and others named in the complaint and will update this story once they respond.

In an ambush interview, Alvarez, incumbent Davao del Norte 1st District representative, said the respondents allegedly violated Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and Article 170 of the Revised Penal Code.

These were in relation to the supposed blank items in the bicameral conference committee report on the 2025 budget.

“Marami ‘yung blanko na ‘yun. Ngayon nung tinignan namin kung ano ang mga nilagay nila sa blanko, tinotal namin, umabot sa P241 billion,” Alvarez told reporters.

(There were a lot of blank items. When we checked how much they put in the blanks, the amount totalled to P241 billion.)

“Ang pagsingit ng, imagine, P241 billion? Ang laking halaga ‘yan. Hindi mo pwedeng sabihin na typographical error ‘yan na kinorrect ng technical working group. Mahirap po, ang laki ng amount involved,” he added.

(Imagine, they inserted P241 billion? That’s a huge amount. They can’t just say that that was a typographical error corrected by a technical working group. That’s difficult. A big amount was involved.) 

It was Duterte and Davao City 3rd District Representative Isidro Ungab who first raised concerns last month about the alleged discrepancies in the bicameral conference committee report.

Quimbo earlier confirmed the existence of blank items in the bicameral report, but explained that the funding for such items had been identified before the signing of the report.

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., meanwhile, has repeatedly denied that blank pages exist in the 2025 national budget.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin also defended Marcos’ handling of the 2025 national budget, saying he had “thoroughly purged” it of unnecessary expenditures.

Not impeachment-related

Alvarez also denied that the filing of the complaint was related to the recent impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte by the House of Representatives.

“Alam ninyo, ‘yung sinasabi nilang timing, eh wala namang timing ang criminal case eh. Kung gumawa ka ng krimen, ‘yun ang timing. Gumawa ka ng krimen, alangan naman i-file mo ‘yan sa susunod na taon… Ginawa nila ‘yan recently kaya kinakailangan aksyunan kaagad natin,” he said.

(There’s no timing in filing of a criminal case. If you do a crime, that’s the timing. They did that recently so we should work on it now and not later.)

“Iba naman ang impeachment. Ibang usapin ‘yun. At ito, criminal case ‘to, iba ang usapan dito,” he added.

(The impeachment is a different issue. This is a criminal case and this is different.)

Alvarez also said that he did not consult Rodrigo Duterte before filing the complaints.

The House of Representatives impeached Duterte last Wednesday, with 215 lawmakers endorsing the fourth impeachment complaint against her. Another 25 House members have signed the impeachment complaint, House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said Friday.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court (SC) ordered Bersamin, the Senate, and the House of Representatives to respond to a petition challenging the constitutionality of the 2025 national budget.

This stemmed from a petition for certiorari and prohibition, filed by former executive secretary and senatorial aspirant Vic Rodriguez, Ungab, and others, naming Bersamin, Senate President Francis Escudero, and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez as respondents.

Senate President Francis Escudero said they have referred the petition against the 2025 national budget to the Office of the Solicitor General.

“I already referred the matter to the OSG to handle the case as we usually do,” Escudero said in a Viber message.

“The Senate will but through the OSG who is the legal representative of the Philippine  government,” he added.—With Llanesca Panti/AOL, GMA Integrated News