Was Naga's P500-M coliseum fund political? Robredo lays out timeline

MANILA, Philippines — The P500-million national allocation for the rehabilitation of Naga City's Jesse M. Robredo Coliseum has drawn political questions months after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. released the funds, prompting Mayor Leni Robredo to lay out the project's origins and timetable.

Robredo said the request grew out of the city's need to turn the coliseum, originally built as an events venue, into a safer and more functional evacuation center as severe storms and flooding increasingly force families to shelter there.

"Because it was not originally built as an evacuation center, it does not provide the basic amenities that an evacuation center should have," Robredo said in a Facebook post on Monday, September 21.

The 12,000-seat coliseum has become Naga's largest evacuation center during typhoons and floods, but Robredo said it has limited space for tents, no communal kitchens and inadequate sleeping and storage areas for displaced families.

"After Typhoon Kristine, which brought us the worst floods, the need to repair and retrofit the Coliseum became even more stark," she said, referring to the destructive cyclone in 2024.

The funding request predates Marcos' release of the money.

"As soon as I assumed office in 2025, I tried to look for funding already for its rehabilitation," Robredo said. "It was difficult because of the big amount that is required."

She said Sen. Kiko Pangilinan advised the city to seek funding through the Local Government Support Fund. Robredo wrote Pangilinan on Nov. 13, 2025 seeking support for the retrofit. The Naga City Council later formally endorsed the request.

Robredo said the city was informed in early February 2026 that the request had been approved in principle.

She said Marcos later turned over the Special Allotment Release Order covering P450 million for the repair and rehabilitation of the coliseum and P50 million for heavy equipment intended to strengthen the city's disaster response.

The allocation returned to the spotlight this month after Rep. Edgar Erice (Caloocan) questioned whether the funding carried a political motive and suggested it could be intended to draw Robredo closer to the Marcos administration.

Robredo and Pangilinan ran against and lost to the Marcos-Duterte in 2022. Marcos since had a fallout with his vice president, Sara Duterte.

Malacañang rejected the suggestion that the move to approve Naga City's request is political, saying assistance to local governments was based on need rather than affiliation.

Pangilinan also traced the project to Robredo's 2025 request and said his office helped coordinate with the national government to secure support.

Robredo, however, said the project is simply a disaster-resilience measure whose planning began months before the national government released the funds.

Robredo also addressed why construction has yet to start.

"Even if we have the SARO already, we cannot start with the construction yet because a number of government and non-government agencies/organizations hold office at the Coliseum," she said. A SARO is a special allotment release order that the budget department issues signaling implementation.

Those local offices first have to be relocated to the Balatas Building, which Robredo said is expected to be ready in October.

The project is now in the post-qualification stage of procurement.

"Hopefully, construction can start within the month of October," Robredo said. — with reports from John Marwin Elao

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