Was DBM clueless about budget mess until Marcos’ exposé?

MANILA, Philippines —  Corruption thrives when the very agency tasked with ensuring the “equitable, prudent, transparent and accountable” use of public funds is kept blind to glaring budget anomalies.

“I’d like to know when your office, or you personally, found out that something was wrong. When did you know that something was amiss?”

That was the question former socioeconomic planning chief Winnie Monsod fired at acting Budget Secretary Rolando Toledo, leaving the audience at the UP School of Economics’ (UPSE) E. Gokongwei lecture room in stunned silence last Friday.

Such things, Monsod continued, “don’t just explode – they build up.”

Toledo, who has been with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for almost four decades, said he first learned of the budget scandal when President Marcos brought it to light during his State of the Nation Address last year.

Budget anomalies, Toledo noted, can only be identified when the Commission on Audit (COA), working with the heads of different agencies, conducts validations, site visits or monitoring of ongoing projects.

“First, they should be aware at the agency level. Second, the COA should have noticed it as well, and that should have been reported,” said Toledo, who took the helm of the DBM late last year after his predecessor, Amenah Pangandaman resigned amid the corruption scandal.

“So whatever report that we receive, that’s the basis for us to say that the projects are being implemented. So that’s from our end,” he said.

His answers, however, failed to impress Monsod, a professor emeritus at UPSE, who admitted she “would not” give the acting budget chief a “very good grade.”

“We need monitoring; that’s supposed to be done by the DBM. And you’re saying that it’s COA, and we have to wait for this, and we have to wait for that,” Monsod stressed.

She also expressed disbelief that Toledo was unaware of the budget anomalies before Marcos’ exposé, pointing to the “tremendous” unprogrammed appropriations spent on flood control projects.

“So how could you not have known? I beg your pardon, but it is beyond belief that you could not have known about this,” Monsod pressed.

Citing an initial report from the Department of Public Works and Highways, Marcos revealed in August that P545 billion in public funds has been allocated to flood-control projects since July 2022.

Notably, 15 contractors secured 20 percent or around P100 billion of these projects over the past three years.

Amid rising public outrage, Malacañang established the Independent Commission for Infrastructure to investigate alleged corruption, irregularities and misuse of funds in government projects within the decade.

Both chambers of Congress also held their own hearings, revealing the names of district engineers and government officials who were reportedly among those who benefited from alleged kickbacks.

Last November, former budget secretary Amenah Pangandaman resigned out of “delicadeza” after the DBM was implicated in alleged irregularities involving flood-control projects across the country.

Marcos vowed to “jail the big fish” in the multibillion-peso flood control scandal before Christmas. Yet weeks later, it seems the only thing Filipinos see locked up is their fading hope for a better Philippines.