Caloocan City 2nd District Representative Edgar “Egay” Erice is calling the ₱58 billion Presidential Assistance to Local Government Units fund in the 2027 national budget a form of “presidential pork barrel,” or discretionary spending with no development plan behind it that he says is designed to benefit political allies ahead of the 2028 elections.
Erice slammed the allocation in an interview on DZRH News program The Situation Report on September 8, identifying the PALGU and NALGU funds as among the most troubling items in the proposed 2027 budget.
He said the funds are given to local government units without any accompanying plan for how the money should be spent, citing the example of ₱200,000 distributed to barangays, half of which went to five presidential scholars and half of which had no specified purpose.
“Nagbigay si Presidente 8 billion sa mga local government. 200,000 per barangay. 100,000 scholarship, lima. Tapos 100,000, bahala na kayo kung saan niyo gastusin. Parang ganun din ito. Walang impact,” Erice said.
He pointed out that the distribution is inequitable: a barangay with 50,000 residents and a barangay with 1,000 residents both receive the same five scholarships, with no adjustment for population size or actual need.
Erice said the result is that some barangays used the undesignated funds to buy chairs and tents, visible but low-impact expenditures that he said illustrate the absence of any serious development framework behind the disbursements.
He said ₱58 billion in discretionary presidential assistance is particularly hard to justify at a time when the government simultaneously cut school feeding by 55%, textbooks by 66%, and health emergency preparedness by 68% in the same 2027 budget.
“Ang sabi ko nga, this is a presidential pork. This is a budget for the 2028 national elections. This is a budget na lalong magpapatatag sa tawag sa atin, Ayuda Republic,” Erice said.
