MANILA, Nov. 26 -- Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday raised concerns over what he described as "duplicate" allocations and steep, unexplained increases in the Department of Public Works and Highways' (DPWH) 2025 budget, warning that such patterns risk confusion and possible misuse of funds.

During his interpellation of the DPWH's proposed 2026 budget, Lacson pointed to repeated spikes in the Convergence and Special Support Program (CSSP), which climbed by more than 100 percent from the National Expenditure Program (NEP) to the final General Appropriations Act (GAA) in both 2024 and 2025.

Data he presented showed CSSP rising from PHP174.088 billion to PHP410.991 billion in 2024 and from PHP221.499 billion to PHP504.2...