The three congressional districts of Negros Oriental received larger shares of Department of Public Works and Highways "allocable" funds from 2023 to 2025 than any single district in the more populous Negros Occidental, according to DPWH documents obtained and vetted by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).
Leading the entire Negros Island Region was the 2nd District of Negros Oriental — covering Dumaguete City and held by Rep. Manuel "Chiquiting" Sagarbarria — with a three-year allocable ceiling of roughly 5.52 billion pesos, the highest among all 11 legislative districts in the region.
What DPWH "Allocables" Are
The term came to public attention during congressional hearings into the flood-control scandal earlier this year. In DPWH usage, "allocables" are discretionary budget ceilings assigned to each congressional district — funds that lawmakers can direct toward projects of their choosing.
Critics, including the People's Budget Coalition, describe them as a new form of pork barrel: discretionary, politically motivated, and steered toward politically determined projects. Unlike the pork barrel struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013, the total amounts are set by the executive branch, while lawmakers decide how the money is spent.
Nationwide, allocable funds reached nearly 1.2 trillion pesos over the three-year period, according to the PCIJ. The biggest shares nationally went to Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Sandro Marcos and to House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.
Full Negros Island District Rankings, 2023–2025
Sorted by cumulative allocable ceilings, the region's 11 districts rank as follows, per PCIJ data:
- Negros Oriental 2nd District (Rep. Sagarbarria) — ~5.52 billion pesos
- Negros Oriental 3rd District — ~5.15 billion pesos
- Bacolod City (Rep. Greg Gasataya) — ~5.10 billion pesos
- Negros Oriental 1st District (Rep. Jocelyn Limkaichong) — ~4.60 billion pesos
- Negros Occidental 6th District (Rep. Mercedes Alvarez) — ~4.49 billion pesos
- Negros Occidental's remaining five districts — ranging downward to ~3.09 billion pesos (Rep. Alfredo Marañon III, 2nd District)
- Siquijor (Rep. Zaldy Villa) — ~2.34 billion pesos (last place)
Smaller Province, Larger Slice
The rankings reveal a stark inversion: Negros Oriental, the smaller and less populous half of the island, swept three of the top four positions. Each of its three districts individually outpaced every district in Negros Occidental, which has significantly more residents and twice as many congressional districts.
The PCIJ noted a similar pattern at the national level, where Ilocos Norte's 1st District — home to fewer than 320,000 people — received nearly twice the allocable of Rizal's 1st District, the country's most populous constituency with 1.2 million residents. On Negros, population and development need do not appear to track allocable money.
Sagarbarria's Appropriations Committee Post
According to his published biography and campaign materials, Rep. Sagarbarria served as vice chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations — the panel that shapes the national budget. The committee's chairman during the 19th Congress was Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy "Zaldy" Co, a central figure in the flood-control fund insertions now under investigation.
A vice chairmanship on the Appropriations Committee places a lawmaker in close proximity to the mechanisms that determine district-level allocations. The PCIJ data shows Sagarbarria's district topping the entire Negros Island Region while he held that post.
Sagarbarria Outranked the Speaker's Caretaker District
The Negros Oriental 3rd District presents its own notable context. Its elected representative, Arnolfo "Arnie" Teves Jr., was expelled by the House in August 2023 — the first congressman removed since 1986 — amid the case surrounding the assassination of Governor Roel Degamo. During Teves' suspensions, Speaker Romualdez served as the district's caretaker.
Despite that arrangement, the 3rd District's allocable ceiling of roughly 5.15 billion pesos still fell short of Sagarbarria's 2nd District at 5.52 billion pesos, according to the PCIJ documents.
Infrastructure Gaps Despite Billions in Allocables
The figures land against a contentious backdrop. The Negros Oriental provincial government has moved to take on a 5.8-billion-peso loan package for medical facilities — including a district hospital, a planned "medical city," and solar street lighting — even as billions in discretionary infrastructure funds flowed into the province's districts over the same three-year window.
Negros Oriental has no international airport and no international seaport, and residents describe the upland road network as in disrepair, according to the PCIJ report. The gap between recorded allocable ceilings and visible infrastructure outcomes has drawn scrutiny over how the funds were ultimately spent.
By the Numbers
- ~5.52 billion pesos — Negros Oriental 2nd District (Sagarbarria) allocable ceiling, 2023–2025; highest on Negros Island
- ~5.15 billion pesos — Negros Oriental 3rd District allocable ceiling; held under Speaker Romualdez's caretakership during part of the period
- ~5.10 billion pesos — Bacolod City lone district (Rep. Gasataya)
- ~4.60 billion pesos — Negros Oriental 1st District (Rep. Limkaichong)
- ~3.09 billion pesos — lowest among Negros Occidental districts (Rep. Marañon III, 2nd District)
- ~2.34 billion pesos — Siquijor lone district; last in the regional ranking
- ~1.2 trillion pesos — total DPWH allocable funds nationwide over the same three-year period
- 5.8 billion pesos — provincial loan package for medical facilities pursued over the same period
- 11 — total legislative districts in the Negros Island Region covered by the PCIJ data
Why This Matters
The PCIJ data raises documented questions about how discretionary DPWH funds — totalling nearly 1.2 trillion pesos nationwide over three years — are distributed across congressional districts, and whether allocations track population size, development need, or political positioning. Negros Oriental's 2nd District, represented by a sitting vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, received the largest single share in the entire Negros Island Region.
With the province simultaneously pursuing a multi-billion-peso loan for basic health infrastructure, and residents citing persistent gaps in roads and transport connectivity, the PCIJ findings place pressure on accountability mechanisms governing how DPWH allocable ceilings translate — or fail to translate — into completed public works on the ground.
Photo credit: Photo courtesy of PCIJ (Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism)