Dr. Tony Leachon
Physician, Civic Leader, Independent Health Reform Advocate
The recent revelations surrounding the 2026 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)—with redundant and recycled flood control allocations—are not just administrative oversights. They are acts of negligence, enabled by the very institutions tasked with safeguarding the integrity of our national budget.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), and the Department of Finance (DOF) all reviewed and endorsed this budget before it reached the President’s desk. Civil society raised alarms. I personally filed a Supreme Court petition to defund PhilHealth after its unconstitutional budget stripping. Other civic leaders followed. Yet the Court remains silent. That silence is painful. A ruling that declares the 2025 budget unconstitutional would be a victory for the people—a restoration of constitutional order.
Now, even a leader of the House has stopped short of proposing the abolition of the DBM, citing its failure to vet these anomalies A. This is not governance. This is betrayal.
President Marcos has been misled by his inner circle. And as NiccolΓ² Machiavelli once wrote:
“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”
The lack of urgency across all three branches of government—Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary—is a moral failure.
The people are suffering. The floods are not just physical—they are symbolic of a system drowning in impunity.
We must learn from Indonesia, where the erosion of accountability and integrity has triggered national crises
Their struggle is ours. Corruption is not just a fiscal issue—it is a humanitarian one.
We demand:
• The immediate dismissal of negligent economic managers.
• A full audit of the 2026 DPWH budget and its flood control allocations.
• A Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of the 2025 budget and PhilHealth defunding.
• The creation of an independent, citizen-led commission to oversee budget transparency.
This is not about politics. This is about survival. About dignity. About restoring the soul of public service.
We deserve no less.
#RelentlessForChange
Tony Leachon
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