The revelation by Senator Panfilo Lacson of P51.82 billion in “vague” insertions in the 2026 National Expenditure Program should outrage every taxpayer. These are not simple clerical errors. These are deliberate manipulations designed to funnel billions into projects either already completed, grossly overpriced, or suspiciously uniform in cost. When the nation bleeds from debt, poverty, and calamities, ghost projects and phantom allocations are nothing short of plunder.

Consider the figures: 88 items at P150 million each, 373 items at P100 million each, and 11 items at P120 million each. These are not coincidences. They are cookie-cutter allocations, tailor-made to evade scrutiny. Worse, some of these funds are earmarked for flood control projects already completed—proving that the budget has become a recycling bin for corruption. House Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno was correct to call this out: finished projects should never be funded again. Yet here they are, fattening the NEP like leftovers passed off as fresh meals.

Lacson’s blunt warning that “contractors invade Congress and lawmakers invade the construction business” exposes the rotten nexus between politics and infrastructure. If the Department of Public Works and Highways is allowing legislators to insert projects, then DPWH itself is complicit in corruption. President Marcos Jr. admits questionable items exist, but mere acknowledgment is not enough. Accountability demands naming names—who inserted them, who benefits, and who looks away.

The 2026 budget must not pass as is. Anything less than a purge of these deceptions is treason against the people.