Chris Tan — failed candidate for Mandaluyong councilor and newfound defender of Martin Romualdez — has floated the idea of the Duterte camp as the supposed political beneficiary of broadcaster Anthony Taberna exposé on Senator Risa Hontiveros’ alleged multibillion-peso budget insertions.
Tan claimed that Hontiveros was being deliberately targeted to destroy who he referred to as “our Superman.”
“Sino kaya? Sino yung Lex Luthor sa ating Superman, di ba?” Tan said on Atty. Karen Jimeno’s Bilyonaryo program, implying that efforts to take down Hontiveros — someone he perceives to have integrity — were being manifested by the Duterte family or group.
“The idea to try to destroy Risa Hontiveros’ credibility is this: when you destroy the best of the best, ‘yung parang tao na may pinakamataas na integridad, you destroy all hope of people,” he added. “And ‘yun ang ginagawa ni Ka Tunying by what he’s doing and that’s what the people behind him are trying to do. Destroy the best of the best.”
Tan said the supposed smear began when Taberna singled out only Hontiveros in his first livestream. “The first? Anthony Taberna. His first livestream was just Risa Hontiveros. Sabi niya, merong insertion si Risa Hontiveros. And then, when he was pressured to say, bakit siya lang? So, to show impartiality, he decided, ‘let me release all.’ But to begin with, why was it only Risa, when, in fact, Risa only had 3 billion compared to Grace Poe with 11 billion, ‘di ba?”
According to Taberna, the list he obtained from Senate records includes several flood control and infrastructure projects attributed to Hontiveros’ insertions. These reportedly include the construction of the Sinili Flood Control Structure, Section 3, in Barangay Sinili, Santiago City, Isabela, worth ₱100 million, and the construction of a flood control structure along Sawaga River at Linabo Bridge Section in Barangay Violeta, Malaybalay, Bukidnon, worth ₱200 million.
Also on the list are several flood control structures in Tarlac with a combined allocation of ₱75 million, as well as three seawall projects in Sorsogon with budgets of ₱40 million and ₱20 million each. In total, Taberna claimed these projects amount to ₱3,035,800,000 in insertions. “Itinatanggi po ba ninyo na sa inyo ito?” Taberna said during one of his livestreams.
Pressed by Jimeno on who stands to gain from the demolition of Hontiveros’ credibility, Tan pointed to the Duterte camp. “Well, definitely, people in the Duterte camp will benefit the most,” he said.
But in Tan’s own words, the claim rests on guessing. “I can only speculate. I believe there are people behind him, but that’s my guess. I could be wrong,” he admitted. And even as he singled out the Duterte camp as the supposed beneficiary, he also described Taberna as politically fluid. “You know he’s… tinitira niya yung DDS ngayon, tinitira niya yung Kakampinks, and this situation is so fluid,” Tan said. Karen Jimeno also noted Taberna’s perceived closeness to the First Lady.
Tan’s framing of Taberna’s expose as politically motivated sits uneasily with other parts of his own interview. He agreed with former Senate President Franklin Drilon that “not all insertions are bad,” saying the real problem lies in corruption, not the mere act of inserting projects into the budget. “Again, to begin with, imagine this. The Department of Public Works and Highways budget is not bad. It’s supposed to create infrastructure. So, the problem was the usage, the kickbacks, and the overpricing or the substandard projects or the ghost projects. That’s what makes it bad. In the same way as this insertion is not necessarily bad,” Tan said.
He also acknowledged that insertions are standard practice in the Senate. He cited Senator JV Ejercito’s clarification that “all senators had insertions or amendments, actually,” with the only exception being Sonny Angara, who had none because he was appointed education secretary. This is consistent with Taberna’s claim that his list came from Senate records, which he described as “partial.”
Hontiveros, for her part, issued a categorical denial of only one thing: bicam insertions. “Wala akong Bicam insertions. Wala sa unprogrammed funds. PERIOD. HINDI AKO PUMIRMA sa Bicam, at bumoto ng NO sa kontrobersyal na 2025 budget,” she said.
That statement does not dispute Taberna’s claim. Insertions can happen at any stage before bicam — from committee hearings to Senate plenary — and Taberna said his list came from Senate records, not the bicam report. Even Tan himself explained that additional insertions happen during bicam, on top of those made earlier in the process, acknowledging that senators can propose allocations long before the final budget is ratified.
Lawmakers often draw this line because bicam insertions carry the heaviest political weight. A senator can have insertions in the Senate version of the budget but still reject the bicam report, which is what Hontiveros did.
Hontiveros has not denied the existence of the list that Taberna said he obtained from the Senate, nor has she disputed the specific projects attributed to her in it. Her statements have focused only on clarifying that she made no bicam insertions and did not sign the bicameral report.
The figures and project descriptions cited by Taberna remain unchallenged, leaving a narrow but deliberate defense that addresses only the timing of the alleged insertions—not whether they exist.
It has been almost a week since the Bilyonaryo interview aired with thousands of angry reactions from netizens from (quite literally) all parties and political affiliations — yet Tan has refused to issue a clarification on why he defended Martin Romualdez amidst the breathtaking and unprecedented allegations of corruption against him. Instead Tan has chosen to refer to the backlash as “attacks from trolls”.
