DUMAGUETE CITY — A national investigation has put numbers on something Negrenses have long suspected: a large share of public-works money is divided by congressional district before the budget is even debated. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) calls these funds “allocables,” and its data shows Negros Oriental doing well by them.
Here is the plain version. Every year, the Department of Public Works and Highways sets aside a pot of money for each district and writes it into the national budget in advance. Critics say this is the pork barrel in a new form, because the share is fixed ahead of time and tied to a specific district. From 2023 to 2025, those shares added up to almost ₱1.2 trillion across the country.
In the Negros Island Region, Negros Oriental came out ahead. The province’s 2nd District drew ₱5.52 billion — the most of any district in the entire region. Its representative through that period, Manuel “Chiquiting” Sagarbarria, was a vice chairman of the House committee that writes the budget; he is now the mayor of Dumaguete, and his wife, Maisa, holds the 2nd District seat today.
The 3rd District was next, with ₱5.15 billion, even though it has had no elected congressman since Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves was expelled from the House in 2023 over his alleged role in the killing of then-Governor Roel Degamo. House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez has been its caretaker since. The 1st District, under Jocelyn “Josy” Limkaichong, drew ₱4.60 billion. Together, the province’s three districts account for more than a third of the whole region’s allocables.
For comparison, Siquijor’s lone district received the smallest share in the region, ₱2.34 billion.
Allocables are not, by themselves, evidence of anything improper — they are budget lines, approved by Congress. But with the Senate still digging into flood-control spending, the question many readers are asking is simple: who decides these shares, and on what basis?
Negros Island Region: who drew the most
| # | District | Representative (19th Cong.) | 2023–2025 Allocable | 2025 Outside Allocable | 2025 Congress-Initiated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Negros Oriental 2nd | Manuel “Chiquiting” Sagarbarria | ₱5.52B | ₱2.38B | ₱0.53B |
| 2 | Negros Oriental 3rd | vacant — caretaker Spkr. Romualdez | ₱5.15B | ₱1.58B | ₱1.41B |
| 3 | Bacolod City (Lone) | Greg G. Gasataya | ₱5.10B | ₱0.84B | ₱0.61B |
| 4 | Negros Oriental 1st | Jocelyn “Josy” Limkaichong | ₱4.60B | ₱0.87B | ₱0.42B |
| 5 | Negros Occidental 6th | Mercedes K. Alvarez | ₱4.49B | ₱0.27B | ₱0.22B |
| 6 | Negros Occidental 3rd | Jose Francisco “Kiko” Benitez | ₱4.10B | ₱0.39B | ₱0.27B |
| 7 | Negros Occidental 5th | Emilio Bernardino “Dino” Yulo | ₱3.95B | ₱1.59B | ₱1.33B |
| 8 | Negros Occidental 4th | Juliet Marie D. Ferrer | ₱3.46B | ₱0.58B | ₱0.36B |
| 9 | Negros Occidental 1st | Gerardo “Ginggo” Valmayor Jr. | ₱3.25B | ₱0.47B | ₱0.34B |
| 10 | Negros Occidental 2nd | Alfredo “Thirdy” Marañon III | ₱3.09B | ₱1.50B | ₱1.40B |
| 11 | Siquijor (Lone) | Zaldy “Jecoy” Villa | ₱2.34B | ₱0.95B | ₱0.84B |
| NIR total | ₱45.06B | ₱11.42B | ₱7.73B |
Data: Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, “Allocables are the new pork” (29 November 2025); 2025 columns from the DPWH “FY 2025 Budget — By DEO/LD Summary.”