Malacañang open to lifestyle checks amid pork barrel allegations

Malacañang has stated that the presidential family is open to undergoing a lifestyle check following a report that named House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos as the biggest beneficiary of pork barrel funds.

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) published a report identifying Sandro Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez as the top recipients of pork barrel funds in the national budget.

Palace Press Officer Claire Castro mentioned that while she could not speak for Sandro Marcos, he had previously expressed openness to a lifestyle check by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), an anti-corruption body established by his father.

Castro emphasized that a lifestyle check is not prohibited and can be conducted on anyone.

According to the PCIJ report, Sandro Marcos allegedly received over P15.79 billion in allocable funds between 2023 and 2025.

The report also highlighted that Sandro's district in Ilocos Norte, with a population under 320,000, received twice the budget allocated to the first district of Rizal, which has a population of 1.2 million people and is the most populated legislative district in the country.