Receipts, Roads, and Robbery: The Anatomy of Escudero’s Budget Fraud

From Sorsogon to Batangas, a Trail of Insertions Points to Pre-Election Plunder

By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — August 1, 2025

Let’s call this what it is: a national budget written in invisible ink, scented with pork, and signed with a wink. Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero wants you to believe he’s the wounded knight in shining armor—unfairly targeted, heroically transparent, the last honest man in a den of thieves.

But peel away the rhetoric, and what you find is something far more grotesque:
a budget hijacked by political ambition, buried in flood-control padding, and paid for by the poorest Filipinos.

🌀 1. The Smokescreen Olympics

Escudero’s Denials Are a Peso-Store Umbrella in a Typhoon

Escudero dismissed the ₱150 billion in alleged Senate “insertions” as a “demolition job”—a political hatchet job by his rivals. He argued these were just 2% of the ₱6.3 trillion budget, a rounding error in government terms.

But what he forgot to mention?

₱9.1 billion in “flood control” for Sorsogon—Escudero’s home turf.
₱12.08 billion for Bulacan (linked to Sen. Villanueva)
₱8.37 billion for Mindoro
₱7.32 billion for Batangas

That’s not budgeting. That’s a shopping spree with taxpayer cash.

And while Escudero now offers to release senators’ amendment lists, that came only after media exposed the questionable allocations—not before. That’s like offering to unlock the vault after the jewels are missing.

Then comes the House blame game. Escudero tied the entire mess to the removal of Rep. Elizaldy Co as House Appropriations Chair, implying that his ouster triggered budget chaos.

But if that’s the smoking gun, why did the Senate approve the budget with 18 “ayes” and only one abstention?
Answer: Because everyone was in on the heist—or asleep at the wheel.

💸 2. Follow the Pork: Floods, Phases, and Fiscal Fakery

When Budget Layering Becomes a Laundromat for Reelection Funds

This isn’t Escudero’s first vanishing act. Just months earlier, when the impeachment of VP Sara Duterte reached his doorstep, he punted, stalled, and disappeared into procedural fog.

Now, under budget scrutiny, he’s playing the same card.

Let’s talk about “budget layering.” Take one P750 million flood control project. Divide it into five P150M tranches, hide them across different provinces, and presto—your pork is washed, ironed, and ready for electoral deployment.

Sound familiar? It should. It reeks of the old Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) scandal. Only this time, there’s a better PR firm.

Critics rightly call this Pork Barrel 2.0—but that’s giving it too much credit. Even tech upgrades fix bugs. This version creates them.

🩻 3. Broken Promises, Broken Systems

The Poor Get Textbooks Cut. Politicians Get Roads Named After Them.

This budget didn’t just forget the poor. It spit on their graves.

Here’s what got gutted to make room for all those Sorsogon dikes and Batangas bridges:

❌ PhilHealth Subsidies – Zero allocation
❌ DepEd Computerization Program – Slashed
❌ 4Ps Conditional Cash Transfer – Thinned
❌ AKAP Emergency Assistance – Cut from ₱39B to ₱26B, then restored after outrage

One public school teacher in Quezon said it best: “Nothing says ‘Agenda for Prosperity’ like taking tablets from children and giving them to riverbanks.”

The AKAP cash aid—restored only after intense backlash—is not policy. It’s election-year blackmail wrapped in a press release.

A slum dweller in Navotas put it more bluntly:

“They feed us just enough to vote for them—then disappear.”

🔥 4. Rage, Reform, and Rebellion

Don’t Just Demand Accountability—Scare Them Into It

📍 To Escudero:

Release every amendment document—not cherry-picked tables or Excel sheets with rows missing.
Debate budget watchdogs live. If you’re innocent, the truth won’t mind the sunlight.

📍 To the Public:

File mass FOIA requests. Demand the details.
Join protests. If the Senate doesn’t fear the Constitution, make them fear the crowd.

📍 To the Media:

Stop with the “both sides” routine.
This isn’t nuance—it’s complicity.

“Calling this alleged corruption is like calling arson ‘heat redistribution.’”

💀 Conclusion: This Isn’t Just a Scandal—It’s a Blueprint for Collapse

This budget is not a fiscal plan. It’s a get-rich-quick scheme for the political class, disguised as governance.

Flood controls for cronies. Roads for re-election. Empty stomachs and empty classrooms for everyone else.

Escudero, in his tailored evasiveness, insists he’s innocent.
But innocent men don’t wait for exposés to release data. Innocent men don’t hide behind other chambers. Innocent men don’t demand applause for not doing the bare minimum.

The only thing trickling down in this economy is contempt.
And that contempt is corrosive. It poisons trust, paralyzes reform, and punishes the very people who need government the most.