Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo does not sit in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s political camp, but the Palace on Wednesday made a point of quoting her favorable read on how a major national funding program is being run.
Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro brought up the mayor while discussing the Local Government Support Fund (LGSF), telling reporters that Marcos weighed the assessments of officials at the community level when gauging whether the aid was reaching its intended targets.
“We also heard the opinion of Mayor Leni Robredo, where she said that the results of the LGSF were good and they saw how transparent, and where the funds should go,” Castro said in Filipino.
The LGSF channels money from the national government toward development work and the pressing needs identified by local government units.
Pressed on whether the citation signaled that Marcos now views Robredo—his nearest rival in the 2022 presidential race—as a political ally, Castro declined to set the mayor apart, according to the Manila Bulletin. The President regards everyone as an ally, she said, with the exception of those she described as “obstructionists.” Robredo was singled out in the briefing, Castro explained, because she had spoken to the fund’s value in an interview without turning it into a partisan matter.
For the 2027 budget cycle, the executive branch is seeking P58.53 billion for the LGSF. That figure represents a rise of roughly 1.14 percent over the P57.87 billion set aside for 2026.
Castro also stressed that oversight of the fund would not end once the money left national coffers, noting that agencies would keep watch over how it is spent even under a devolved setup. The Department of Public Works and Highways, she said, would track infrastructure builds, while the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority would keep tabs on scholarship spending.
