PH Politics

Rep. Leandro Leviste of Batangas’ 1st District said on December 22 that each district and party-list representative receives at least P150 million annually in budget insertions under the Department of Public Works and Highways, citing documents associated with former Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral. Leviste said the records show that lawmakers direct these DPWH allocations to projects in their constituencies and that the pattern persists across budget cycles. His statement comes amid continuing scrutiny of how Congress structures and labels infrastructure funds in the national budget.

The Department of Justice in the Philippines reported new fund recoveries from contractor Sally Santos and former DPWH officials Gerard Opulencia and Henry Alcantara in connection with alleged ghost and anomalous flood control projects in Bulacan and the National Capital Region. Santos turned over P15 million under a restitution deal, while Opulencia and Alcantara surrendered P40 million and P71.38 million, respectively, as part of larger commitments tied to DOJ memorandums of agreement and provisional admission to the Witness Protection Program.

The Office of the Ombudsman in the Philippines has issued a subpoena duces tecum directing the Department of Public Works and Highways to surrender all government-issued computers and electronic devices of the late Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral for forensic examination in connection with the Flood Control Scandal investigation. Assistant Ombudsman Jose Dominic Clavano IV said a law enforcement agency will examine the devices to determine if any data was altered, deleted, or tampered with after the scandal became public. Police, meanwhile, continue to investigate Cabral’s death after authorities found her body in a Benguet ravine, with Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla stating that she died of blunt force trauma consistent with a fall.

Philippine medical societies have urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Congress to increase funding for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and to phase out the Department of Health’s Medical Assistance for Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) program. The groups called for reallocating resources to strengthen PhilHealth as the primary vehicle for public health financing, particularly for indigent and financially incapacitated patients. They plan to submit formal position papers and engage with lawmakers and agencies to manage a transition that avoids service disruption while consolidating government support for medical care under a single, adequately funded national health insurance system.

Duterte’s lawyers have asked ICC judges to reject a court-appointed medical panel’s finding that the former Philippine president is fit for pre-trial proceedings, arguing that his short-term memory impairment prevents him from meaningfully instructing counsel and following complex hearings. The defense filing cites alleged contradictions in the experts’ reports, questions their evidentiary standards, and claims the panel failed to fully consider detention staff observations and Duterte’s co-morbid conditions. The defense requested an evidentiary hearing to question the experts before the ICC rules on Duterte’s fitness.

Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez filed House Bill 6815 to create the Philippine Scam Prevention Center (PSPC) under the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center. The proposed PSPC will serve as the primary government agency for enforcing laws on online and digital fraud, including the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act of 2024 and the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. The bill mandates coordination among regulators, financial institutions, telcos, online marketplaces and fintech firms, and calls for regional scam prevention centers nationwide.