The claim broadens a narrower complaint
Facebook graphics claim Davao City received no national government funds during the four years since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office. The posts invoke comments associated with Representative Paolo Duterte and accuse Marcos of taking credit for projects in a Duterte political stronghold.
The wording changes the unit being discussed. A lawmaker can complain that a particular congressional district received no discretionary project allocation without proving that the city government, its barangays and national agencies received no national money. Davao City spans three congressional districts and multiple funding channels.
The national-transfer record
Philippine News Agency, citing Department of Budget and Management figures, reported that Davao City and its barangays received a combined 53.11 billion pesos in national tax allotments and other releases from fiscal years 2022 through 2026. The national tax allotment is a formula-based share of national collections distributed to local governments.
The existence of those transfers directly contradicts the absolute phrase 'no funds.' It does not prove that every requested road, building or district project was approved, nor does it resolve whether Davao received a fair share compared with other cities. Those are separate claims requiring project-level and comparative budget data.
Local budget and national money are different columns
Davao City's council approved a 15.8 billion peso local budget for 2026. A city budget combines expected local revenue, national transfers and authorized spending; it is not identical to a list of presidential projects. Likewise, a regional budget may include spending by national departments that never appears as a cash transfer controlled by city hall.
A rigorous audit would sort money into at least four buckets: automatic tax allotments, special grants to the city or barangays, national-agency projects located in Davao and congressional or discretionary items. Collapsing all four into a claim of zero creates a conclusion the records cannot support.
Verdict and the fairer question
Verdict: false. Public budget records show national funding reached Davao City and its barangays during the Marcos administration. The viral claim takes a narrower political grievance and expands it beyond the geographic and accounting scope of the original statement.
The fairer question is not whether Davao received anything, but how much it received through each channel, what comparable cities received per resident, and whether announced projects were completed. Those comparisons could reveal favoritism or neglect; a zero-funding graphic cannot because its central number is wrong.
Sources and further reading
AFP Fact Check: Davao funding claim and underlying records ↗
Philippine News Agency: Davao national allotments and releases ↗
Davao City government: approved P15.8 billion 2026 budget ↗
Philippine Information Agency: 2026 Davao Region budget context ↗