1 month ago
16
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
MANILA, Philippines — Former Public Works undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral may have implicated then-Rep. Elizaldy Co when she informed her lawyer of the adjustments made by the House to the “district allocables” in earlier budgets.
Cabral’s legal counsel, Mae Divinagracia, revealed on Monday, January 5 some of her conversations with the late undersecretary, one of which was Cabral’s explanation of the “parametric formula” and her claim that the legislature did not even follow it.
She confirmed that Cabral had admitted to preparing the formula as instructed by former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Manuel Bonoan, saying Cabral conferred with an economist who was once a consultant to the agency.
“They came up with this algorithmic formula that would have hopefully eliminated discretion in the allocations,” she said over ANC’s Headstart on January 5.
Why the discrepancy?
Much like what Rep. Leandro Leviste (Batangas, 1st District) shared, Divinagracia said the parametric formula was supposedly based on historical allocations, population density and poverty incidence.
However, she explained that the reason why the actual amounts found in reported documents did not seem to align with these factors was simply that the House chose not to comply and propose its own adjustments.
“This [parametric formula] was presented to the House leadership,” Divinagracia said. “Unfortunately, this was practically overridden.”
“After it was presented, the House leadership made adjustments, which practically brought back the allocations for the previous year,” she added.
Who supplied the DPWH with the adjustments? Divinagracia said Cabral told her they originated from Co’s office, sent to the late undersecretary’s office by email.
“According to Ms. Cabral, the email containing these adjustments came from the office of Zaldy Co,” she said.
The lawyer, however, clarified she did not see the email herself, but it is likely in Cabral’s old DPWH email.
“After it was sent to her, she forwarded it to Secretary Bonoan, who ultimately approved these adjustments,” she added.
Co was the House appropriations chair of the 19th Congress and has since been implicated in allegations of budget manipulation to maintain the kickback scheme that was mentioned in the flood control scandal.
He, however, has only admitted to inserting P100 billion in the 2025 budget under the alleged instruction of the president and denied receiving any cuts.
Allocations existed in past terms
Divinagracia said this gave a glimpse of the discrepancies raised by some lawmakers over the terms “NEP restored” and “NEP computed,” which refer to the DPWH's proposed annual budgets submitted for the National Expenditure Program (NEP).
Cabral’s legal counsel said the figures under “NEP computed” were generated using the parametric formula, which substantially reduced allocations for each district.
But when the House made adjustments, she said the amounts were effectively restored to those of previous years. These were basically the figures found under the “NEP restored.”
The legal counsel also said Cabral told her that a “Senate and House leadership fund” existed, separate from the so-called “allocables,” where the districts of former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos had the highest share.
She added that all this information was reportedly disclosed to the Office of the Ombudsman during a fact-finding hearing with Cabral, where she also shared how district allocations had existed in past terms.
Under former DPWH secretary Rogelio Singson, Divinagracia said Cabral told her the allocations were on a “per need basis” based on project proposals submitted by district engineering and regional offices.
Meanwhile, under former DPWH secretary and now Sen. Mark Villar, the amounts were based on the allocations set in the General Appropriations Act of the previous year, which meant the amounts for one year shouldn’t exceed that of the previous year.
It was only under Bonoan’s term that the concept of “legislative district allocables” was introduced, Divinagracia said, which pertained to the “fixed allocation per district” based on the parametric formula.
What about the ‘Cabral files’?
Divinagracia also said Cabral only confirmed that Leviste had obtained documents on the DPWH allocations from her office, but had not discussed anything about how he managed to get a hold of them.
Leviste claims that Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon and Cabral had authorized him to get a copy of the documents, but some DPWH officials said the congressman forcibly took them from Cabral’s hands.
However, based on the legal counsel’s phrasing during the interview — saying Cabral could not verify the document until presented with what Leviste had obtained — it remains unclear whether the late undersecretary voluntarily provided such copies.
The DPWH itself has yet to confirm or verify whether or not the copy that Leviste publicized matched official documents.
Divinagracia also said Cabral had intended to hand over the six boxes of documents she had related to the annual DPWH budget proposals.
But she died before doing so, and their office no longer knows where the documents are. Cabral took them out of her DPWH office, but Divinagracia said neither they nor Cabral’s family, who searched her home, know where the boxes were taken.
While the legal counsel was unable to review all the documents, she confirmed there were budget requests submitted to the DPWH, notes from Secretary Bonoan himself and some that “bore the names of proponents.”
Cabral was found dead on Dec. 19, 2025, after falling into a ravine below Kennon Road in Benguet. Since then, the so-called “Cabral files” containing alleged proponents from both the executive and legislative branches have been questioned.
Still, government agencies like the DPWH and the Ombudsman have yet to authenticate Leviste’s copies with those of official records.
