The House of Representatives approved on second reading, via voice vote, the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget for 2027, pressing ahead despite objections over the lack of detail surrounding more than P116 billion in spending realignments.

The spending plan represents an increase of roughly 6%, or P407 billion, over the P6.793-trillion 2026 national budget. The annual appropriations law sets how the government funds agency operations, infrastructure, social services, and debt service for the year.

The Budget Amendments Review Subcommittee approved P116.32 billion in realignments on Oct. 1, redirecting funds toward health, social welfare, agriculture, infrastructure, and education. Those changes were folded into the substitute text of House Bill No. 10858, but opposition lawmakers objected that the subcommittee had not issued a separate report detailing the amendments.

Party-list Rep. Antonio L. Tinio argued that House rules require a report specifying each amendment, including the increases and reductions involved and the legislator who proposed each change. “The rules are very clear that a Budget Amendments Review Subcommittee report is required,” he told the plenary in Filipino. “This is a separate report.”

Party-list Rep. Elijah R. San Fernando noted that lawmakers received the nearly 4,000-page substitute bill at 1:57 a.m., leaving them little time to review it.

Health received the largest boost, with the Department of Health set to receive P28.36 billion above its P270.98-billion allocation under the national expenditure program (NEP). The Medical Assistance for Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients program will gain an additional P24.97 billion, raising its allocation to P49.17 billion.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development will receive P26.86 billion more, including P25.81 billion for its Assistance to in Crisis Situations program.

Agriculture agencies will receive a combined P20.86 billion in added funding, including P16.44 billion for the Department of Agriculture and P4.09 billion for the National Irrigation Administration. The amendments also earmarked P10 billion for the Presidential Assistance to Farmers and Fisherfolk, P4.96 billion for farm-to-market roads, and P500 million for fertilizer assistance.

Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Angela B. Suansing, who heads both the review subcommittee and the House appropriations committee, said the additions would help prepare the agriculture sector for El Niño, a climate pattern typically associated with below-normal rainfall in parts of the Philippines.

The Department of Public Works and Highways will get another P11.49 billion, including P6.9 billion for national roads, while education programs will receive an additional P8.12 billion — P1.95 billion for the Department of Education, P3.87 billion for higher education subsidies, and P1.44 billion for technical education scholarships and training.

Mary Abigail B. Modales, national coordinator of the People’s Budget Coalition, said the subcommittee’s proceedings did not disclose which allocations would be reduced to finance the increases. “The reallocation strategy is hidden,” she said. “The public has no visibility on what items will suffer the cut.”

Former Budget Secretary Romulo R. Neri called for greater transparency and urged the government to make budget deliberations accessible to the public.

The bill will now proceed to third reading — the chamber’s vote on final passage — before being sent to the Senate. The House has sought the Senate’s consent to extend its plenary session until Oct. 12 to complete final approval of the spending plan. In the usual course of the Philippine budget process, the Senate will then take up its own version of the measure, with differences typically reconciled by a bicameral conference committee before the President signs the spending plan into law as the General Appropriations Act. The government’s fiscal year begins on Jan. 1, giving lawmakers a window to complete enactment before the 2027 spending year starts.

Source: BusinessWorld — House OKs P7.2-T 2027 budget on second reading