Negros Oriental's 2nd congressional district received the largest fiscal year 2025 DPWH budget of all 11 districts in the Negros Island Region — ₱4.24 billion — according to the leaked "Cabral file" now back in the spotlight after ex-Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan agreed to turn state witness in the flood control plunder cases.
The document, a "By DEO/LD Summary" dated January 20, 2025, breaks the 2nd district's total into ₱1.86 billion allocable and ₱2.38 billion outside allocable. It is the biggest of Negros Oriental's three districts, which together drew ₱9.98 billion — 37.7 percent of NIR's ₱26.47-billion total. The 3rd district (listed under Arnolfo "Arnie" Teves Jr.) got ₱3.32 billion and the 1st (Jocelyn "Josy" Limkaichong) ₱2.41 billion.
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said on June 29 that Bonoan signed a cooperation deal and that his office asked the Sandiganbayan to discharge him as an accused so he can testify. Bonoan faces a non-bailable ₱573-million plunder charge with Senator Jinggoy Estrada.
Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste, who released the file on Christmas Eve following the death of DPWH Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral, renewed his push for a congressional probe into how the 2025 DPWH budget swelled past ₱1 trillion. "Hindi ibig sabihin ng pagkakaroon ng budget ay may anomalya, pero kung wala namang anomalya, bakit itinatago ang impormasyong ito?" he said.
The 3rd district was under caretaker Speaker Martin Romualdez after Teves' August 2023 expulsion until Janice Degamo won in May 2025; the 2nd district's budget was crafted under fugitive appropriations chair Elizaldy "Zaldy" Co. The Ombudsman is running a forensic exam of Cabral's files. Allocation, the file notes, is not proof of anomaly.