During the last three years of the Rodrigo Duterte presidency, the 1st district of Davao City was the top recipient of funds from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). 

Paolo ‘Pulong’ Duterte, the president’s son, was then the district representative. From 2020 to 2022, his district cornered P51 billion in infrastructure spending, an amount, according to then House Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. Elizaldy Co that is the “largest” funding a district ever got in the country’s history.

But not anymore. In the first three years of the Marcos presidency, the 1st district of Leyte, represented by House Speaker and presidential cousin Martin Romualdez, received P57 billion in DPWH funds during that period, according to budget records obtained by the PCIJ. 

DPWH has not made public the allocations per legislative district. But DPWH provided the data for 2023 to 2025 to legislators, one of whom shared the information with PCIJ.

These swings in DPWH indications indicate that political influence, rather than infrastructure needs, determine the allocations of public works funds.

As the fourth highest government official, the speaker steers the House of Representatives’ agenda—from the bills it prioritizes, down to the issues it investigates through public hearings. It is also an open secret that the chamber’s top leader can wangle perks for his district, allowing his district access to disproportionate amounts of government funds.

Last September, amid allegations of involvement in the flood-control corruption scandal, Romualdez was replaced by Isabel 6th District Rep. Faustino “Bojie” Dy III as House Speaker. Despite this, DPWH documents show that the Leyte 1st District was still awarded the biggest budget allocation among all other legislative districts in the 2026 budget—around P6 billion.

The table below is based on a document that the DPWH provided to PCIJ. This data is being made public for the first time.

Influence in the DPWH budget

In November 2025, PCIJ reported that Romualdez and presidential son Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos got the largest share of “allocables” or earmarked DPWH funds for each congressional district from 2023 to 2025.

Then DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan, who oversaw the department’s preparation of the 2026 budget, said that the allocable system was still the basis of the department’s National Expenditure Program (NEP) for this year.

On top of the “allocable” funds, House lawmakers who have leadership positions can secure more funding, according to several former and current lawmakers PCIJ. The higher designation—from committee chairpersonships, majority and minority leader positions, up to the speakership—the fatter the premiums. 

A source privy to the DPWH’s planning activities during Bonoan’s time told PCIJ that Romualdez was known for submitting project requests to the former DPWH chief and late Undersecretary Ma. Catalina Cabral. And more often than not, these would get included in the NEP or what’s known as the president’s budget. The NEP is the budget that is sent to Congress, which then approves, disapproves, or makes insertions. 

People’s Budget Coalition co-convenor AJ Montesa said that budget insertions and reductions made by lawmakers during deliberations “really tells a story of how Congress can influence the budget. 

In the DPWH’s resubmitted 2026 NEP, Romualdez’s Leyte 1st District started with a nearly P10 billion budget. The district with the second highest budget at that stage, Samar 2nd District, trailed by more than P3 billion.

Congress gutted over P4 billion worth of proposed funding for public works from Romualdez’s district, based on the final version of the 2026 budget or the General Appropriations Act (GAA). This is the largest cut that any legislative district incurred. But even then, Leyte 1st District still emerged as the top recipient of DPWH funding this year. 

The big budget for Leyte 1st district indicates that lobbying already happens as early as the preparation of the NEP, not just during congressional deliberations, according to Montesa.

The perks of the presidential kin and House leaders

Presidential and congressional kin have traditionally gotten big chunks of DPWH funding. But, experts warn, the concentration of projects in any single district does not automatically equate to corruption. These projects are beneficial to the public if they are based on needs and are part of a robust plan, said Montesa. 

“It shouldn’t be a problem if these are really meant to target underserved areas, but the concentration of projects and budgets there might come to the detriment of the more underserved areas,” he added. “So while political footholds are cemented, underdevelopment may be further cemented in the areas who lose out as well.”

Navotas Lone District Rep. Tobias Tiangco, who has exposed budget insertions for fraudulent flood-control projects, said that budgets don’t have to be equally distributed to each district. But they have to be fair and equitable—”hindi siya pantay-pantay pero dapat patas siya.” 

Leviste’s district got the biggest hike

Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste, a neophyte congressman, played the budget game in a different way. Critics of the House leadership and the administration traditionally get smaller amounts of public works funds. But he claims that his relentless criticism against DPWH corruption and allegations against the Dizon-led DPWH got him more funding for his district.

Batangas 1st District got the second highest DPWH allocation this year, owing to project insertions worth P3.7 billion after the passing of the House’s version of the 2026 budget last year. This is more than a billion larger than the P2.6-billion increase in Speaker Dy’s Isabela 6th District.

Lobbying for projects in one’s district has, for better or worse, been a commonplace for lawmakers who want to “deliver” for their constituencies. Numerous district and party-list representatives have told PCIJ that they indeed request infrastructure projects for their districts or hometowns.

“Probably, ang power ni Leviste ay mas maingay siya, mas nasa news siya. Maybe he was more willing to threaten them. He’s more unpredictable. He’s more of a loose cannon,” Montesa said.

In October 2025, Leviste alleged in a press conference that some DPWH undersecretaries brought in by Dizon had ties to public works contractors. He also called for the department to disclose the budget allocation per legislative district in recent years. Towards the end of the briefer, a high-ranking public works official called him to supposedly promise additional funding for his district which he had earlier requested.

“Tinawagan ako para sabihin ‘yung para sa distrito ko ibibigay nila. ‘Wag ko lang guluhin ‘yung DPWH budget system sa buong bansa,” he said in a December 2025 press conference.

“I’m asking for extra budget for classrooms in the first district of Batangas, and on the phone I was told, ‘we will give you extra budget for your district.’ If you read between the lines, that means, ‘you don’t question our budget, and we’ll give you your budget,’” Leviste added.

Heads of agencies cannot, on their own, make changes in the budget once it is already in the hands of lawmakers. But it is common for Congress to consider and adopt the additional requests of the executive department—or what is known as “institutional amendments.

Among other districts that got the highest budget bumps in the GAA is Speaker Dy and House Appropriations Chair Mikaela Suansing. 

Congress started deliberating the 2027 budget last August 17. During the budget briefing that day, Suansing vowed to consult with the House leadership and the executive committee of the appropriations panel whether or not they should release the per legislative district allocation of the proposed DPWH budget for this year.

Montesa supports the call to release the breakdown. He said it would equip ordinary citizens with the tools to independently scrutinize the allocation of infrastructure projects.

“Ang gusto lang naman natin ay maging transparent lahat ng negotiations, lahat ng discussions. If mawala kasi yung transparency, nawawalan ng levers yung tao kung behind closed doors yung negotiations nila,” he said

Tiangco echoed the same. “Why don’t we make it easy for them para makita nila? Kasi kung pinapahirapan natin sila, ibig sabihin ayaw nating malaman nila,” the lawmaker said.