Bersamin to solons: Clean own house first, stop holding NEP hostage
Malacañang on Saturday pushed back against lawmakers who are “attempting to shift the blame for their own corruption and failures onto the Executive Branch.”
In a strongly worded statement, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said the Cabinet objects “recent spins coming from certain members of the House of Representatives.”
“The members of the Cabinet will not tolerate any attack on the integrity and reputation of the Executive Branch, and any effort to hold the budget process hostage by political theatrics,” Bersamin said.
Earlier, House Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno said their review of the 2026 National Expenditure Program uncovered serious and systemic anomalies, particularly within the budget books of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Anomalies include multiple funding entries for similar projects, absence of allocations for multi-year projects, as well as funding allocations for projects which were already completed, Puno said.
He earlier suggested returning the NEP to the executive but the House leadership said they will instead allow departments to correct flagged entries.
Bersamin said investigations into anomalies would be “futile” if corruption in Congress remained unaddressed, urging lawmakers to heed public calls for accountability.
“All our investigations into the anomalies will be futile if the sources of corruption remain unchecked. Hence, we urge the House of Representatives to heed the demand of the people for full accountability: Clean your house first!” Bersamin said.
Meanwhile, Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, co-chairperson of the House Infrastructure Committee (InfraComm), said Saturday efforts to suspend congressional inquiries on the alleged anomalies in flood control projects should be decided jointly by both chambers of Congress.
Ridon made the statement as President Marcos’ independent investigating body is already being formed.
“This (stopping the congressional probes) is something that should be decided jointly by the Senate and the House… to take a step back, to suspend proceedings and to refer everything to the independent commission,” he said.
“But I think, very important that it is undertaken jointly. It cannot be that it is just the House of Representatives or only the Senate that takes a step back,” Ridon added.
President Marcos earlier said the independent investigating commission would need forensic investigators, lawyers, justices, and prosecutors who will look at the pieces of evidence on alleged anomalous and ghost flood control projects.
