By MANILA, Philippines — Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada remain under scrutiny on the issue of budget insertions, despite facing their accuser in Thursday’s Senate blue ribbon committee investigation into flood control project anomalies, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said.
Villanueva and Estrada were the subject of a damning accusation by Brice Hernandez, a former assistant district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways. Hernandez alleged that Villanueva and Estrada maneuvered to allocate P600 million and P355 million, respectively, for funding in Bulacan’s first district in exchange for an alleged 30-percent cut.
Both senators denied the claims and offered to sign a waiver to open their bank accounts and prove their innocence. Lacson, during the Thursday hearing of the Senate blue ribbon panel he chairs, revealed that he found “seven or eight items” under the unprogrammed fund of the 2023 national budget totaling P600 million. Previously, the same senator also revealed that a total of P355 million of flood-control project insertions was also found in the 2025 national budget.
