Senator backs DILG’s anti‑epal policy, calls for enabling law to end political credit-grabbing

Senator Loren Legarda lauded the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for enforcing the nationwide removal of names, images, and likenesses of public officials from government‑funded projects, programs, and properties. She hailed the directive as a decisive step toward restoring integrity in governance and a reminder to public servants that public office is a trust, not a platform for self‑promotion.

“Public office is a public trust. Public funds are for public service, not for personal publicity,” Legarda declared as she welcomed the DILG memorandum directing all levels of government to strip personal branding from billboards, markers, tarpaulins, vehicles, and other properties funded by taxpayers’ money.

She underscored that every peso of public funds carries a moral obligation and a covenant with the people. It carries the duty to nourish children, furnish classrooms, heal the sick, support farmers, and sustain communities. When that covenant is broken, the consequences are felt in silence: a child without a book, a family without a meal, a classroom without chairs, a patient without medicine, a farmer without seedlings, and a community without clean water.

“What should have been allocated to education, nutrition, healthcare, livelihood, and essential social services is instead squandered on vanity projects that serve no one but the officials themselves,” Legarda stressed. “This is not simply the misuse of public funds for personal gain. It is theft from the people, a betrayal of trust. If that is not ‘epal’ in its truest sense, I do not know what is.”

The Senator emphasized that in the absence of an enabling statute, government agencies have long sought to uphold integrity through administrative issuances. In 2010, the DILG prohibited billboards and signage bearing the names or images of officials on government projects. In 2013, the Commission on Audit (COA) declared such practices improper and disallowed them as unnecessary expenditures. In 2019, the DILG reinforced this principle by directing local officials to refrain from appearing in the distribution of government programs. Most recently, the General Appropriations Act of 2026 expressly prohibited public officials and politicians from influencing or participating in the distribution of government aid.

“These measures show a consistent recognition that self‑promotion undermines public trust. But without a permanent law, these safeguards remain vulnerable,” Legarda emphasized.

In this Congress, Legarda filed Senate Bill 1716 or the Anti‑Epal Act, a measure that consolidates these safeguards into a permanent statutory solution. The bill prohibits public officials from affixing their names, images, or personal identifiers to government programs and projects, ensuring that government resources are used solely for the benefit of the people.

Importantly, the bill also establishes Anti‑Epal Desks, dedicated mechanisms to monitor, receive complaints, and enforce compliance. For Legarda, these desks are a concrete reform to eradicate the scheme once and for all. She stressed that the fight against “epal” cannot succeed unless the very stakeholders deprived of public funds are empowered to speak, report, and demand accountability.

“We can only stop this practice if we put in place reporting mechanisms for the general public. The citizens themselves must be able to call out and report violations,” Legarda said.

Legarda acknowledged that the practice has become so entrenched that many have grown accustomed to it, even treating it as part of the political landscape.

“We have all witnessed this scheme, time and again. The longer we allow it, the deeper it takes root. Familiarity must never breed acceptance,” she said.

“End it now, do not perpetuate it. If we nip it at the bud, if we refuse to water it, if we refuse to romanticize it, then it will wither and die on its own,” Legarda added, issuing a call to her fellow public servants to abandon the culture of self-promotion.

Legarda also commended DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla for holding heads of offices accountable for compliance with the Anti-Epal directive and for encouraging citizens to report violations through DILG channels and other complaint mechanisms. She stressed that accountability must be enforced across all levels of government, from national agencies down to barangays.

“ When officials step back from the spotlight and allow programs to speak for themselves, we honor the people who pay for every kilometer of road, every classroom, and every relief pack distributed,” Legarda said.

Legarda concluded with a reminder that government projects are paid for by the people and must never be hijacked as billboards for political credit‑grabbing. True leadership, she stressed, will never be measured by the number of times their names appear in public, but by the number of lives quietly made better by a government that serves without fanfare.

“Hindi nasusukat ang mahusay na pamumuno sa dami ng tarpaulin o laki ng pangalan; nasusukat ito sa tapat na paglilingkod at malasakit na ramdam ng bayan. Ang pamumuno ay nakikita sa gawa, hindi sa mukha.”