By Pexcel John Bacon, Reporter — BusinessWorld

A lawmaker has called for a closer investigation of congressional insertions in the 2027 General Appropriations bill as approved by the House of Representatives, citing the inclusion of projects without publicly available supporting documents and budget realignments she said are vulnerable to abuse.

Party-list Rep. Leila Norma M. de Lima, Senior Deputy Minority Leader, said the Senate and the bicameral conference committee (bicam) should scrutinize the House amendments, particularly after a review by the People's Budget Coalition (PBC) identified thousands of individual projects introduced by the lower chamber.

Under the Philippines' budget process, the National Expenditure Program submitted by the executive serves as the baseline spending proposal, which each chamber of Congress can amend before a bicameral conference committee reconciles the House and Senate versions for the President's enactment.

According to the PBC review, the House introduced 7,054 individual projects worth P190 billion out of 18,600 project line items. Of that amount, P15 billion worth of farm-to-market road and irrigation projects had no publicly posted project attachments.

“This warrants further investigation and scrutiny in the Senate and/or in the bicam,” Ms. de Lima told BusinessWorld in a Viber chat, warning that the absence of sufficient documentation could allow irregularities.

“If there are no adequate documents, it is suspicious because a lot of trickery can happen there,” she added in Filipino.

Ms. de Lima said these concerns were among the reasons she voted against the House-approved measure, which she described as “patronage-driven.”

She said the House-approved budget leaves only P1.15 trillion in available fiscal space, of which P541.5 billion, or nearly half, went to what she described as pork allocations following amendments introduced by the Budget Amendments and Review Subcommittee.

Because the national budget sets the government's spending authority for the year, realignments made at the amendment stage directly shape which programs end up funded.

Cash assistance programs nearly doubled from their proposed levels under the National Expenditure Program, with P67.5 billion added during the subcommittee amendments, she said. These include Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations, Medical Assistance for Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients, Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers and other similar programs.

Ms. de Lima also flagged a P74.1-billion increase in the Department of Public Works and Highways' (DPWH) Convergence Program, alongside a P16.3-billion reduction in flood management funding.

The Local Government Support Fund, meanwhile, was raised to P62.6 billion, its largest allocation to date, with the lawmaker noting that the increase comes a year ahead of the 2028 elections.

She further raised concerns over P130 billion in cuts to foreign-assisted projects of the Department of Transportation, the DPWH and other agencies, as well as reductions in funding for health promotion, immunization, family planning commodities, classrooms, consular services for overseas Filipino workers and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund.

Ms. de Lima also questioned the P112-billion allocation for unprogrammed appropriations, saying it remains vulnerable to abuse.

“We stand firm: UA is prone to corruption and has no place in the National Budget,” she said. Ms. de Lima is among the petitioners who questioned the legality of unprogrammed appropriations.

The Supreme Court earlier voided portions of the 2024–2026 budgets, ruling that congressional increases to unprogrammed appropriations and special funds in previous national budgets exceeded constitutional limits. These included a P449.5-billion increase in 2024 and a P17.99-billion addition in 2025.

Ms. de Lima said the Supreme Court's rulings on unprogrammed appropriations should guide both the approval and implementation of the national budget.

She said budget amendments should be made more transparent, with Congress publishing the names of proponents, project locations, justifications and supporting documents for every change.

“Moving forward, we call on both chambers of Congress to publish all amendments, including the names of the proponents, project locations, justifications, and supporting documents, not just coordinates,” she said.

She also called for an open bicameral conference committee process, saying the public should be given meaningful opportunities to participate in budget deliberations.

“As we have long been advocating, the bicam should be open to the public and allow meaningful public participation,” she said.

Ms. de Lima warned that the 2027 budget could accommodate politically motivated allocations if the amendments are not subjected to public scrutiny, describing the measure as “not people-centered, but election-centered.”

Those who could be held responsible for bypassing safeguards include the proponents of the insertions, House and Senate leaders who approved the amendments, members of the bicameral conference committee and even the President, should they act maliciously or deliberately commit grave abuse of discretion, she added.

Senate budget deliberations will resume in November, with the chamber targeting completion by the second week of December to give President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. time to sign the spending plan before Christmas.

How the chamber weighs the documentation gaps flagged in the PBC review, and whether the bicam is opened to public participation as Ms. de Lima urged, will be among the immediate points to watch as the spending plan moves toward the December signing target.

Source: BusinessWorld — Closer scrutiny needed over questionable insertions in House-approved 2027 budget