Mag-Tiyong Dy and the Billion-Peso BICAM Inserts: When Budget Power Stays in the Family

In the Bicameral Conference Committee (BICAM), where the final shape of the national budget is quietly decided, numbers often speak louder than speeches.

According to data cited by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), the largest budget insertions currently under discussion in BICAM are linked to one political family in Isabela—the Dy family.

At the top of the list is House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy of Isabela’s 6th District, with ₱2.6 billion in budget insertions. Close behind is his nephew, Rep. Faustino Michael Dy of the 5th District, with ₱668 million, ranking ninth overall.

Mag-tiyong—uncle and nephew.
Billions—inserted.
All while BICAM deliberations remain largely shielded from public scrutiny.

Budget insertions are not illegal by default. But when huge sums concentrate within a single political clan, questions of fairness, equity, and national priority naturally arise. Especially when, elsewhere in Congress, lawmakers are questioning why classrooms remain unfinished, why roads are incomplete, and why social services fall short—despite ballooning allocations.

BICAM is supposed to reconcile differences between House and Senate versions of the budget—not quietly rewrite priorities in favor of the powerful.

Scripture offers a sober warning:

“Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees.”
— Isaiah 10:1

The issue is not whether Isabela deserves development—it does.
The issue is whether budget power has become hereditary, passed not through merit or national need, but through political bloodlines.

Politikanta Minute takeaway:
When the biggest budget insertions land within the same family, transparency is no longer optional—it is urgent. BICAM must explain not just how much, but why and for whom.