The House of Representatives allegedly inserted more than P1 trillion worth of patronage-driven assistance programs, infrastructure initiatives and standby funds into its approved version of the proposed 2027 national budget, a government watchdog told the Senate on Monday.

Under the Philippines' budget process, the House acts first on the annual General Appropriations Bill, and its approved text traditionally serves as the working template for the Senate's deliberations, with both chambers later reconciling their versions before ratification and the President's signature.

Adolfo Jose A. Montesa, co-convener of the People's Budget Coalition (PBC), said the chamber added P210 billion in "soft pork," or patronage-driven aid; P695 billion in "hard pork," or politicized infrastructure; and P122 billion in "shadow pork," or unprogrammed appropriations. Unprogrammed appropriations are standby funds authorized in the budget but released only once certain conditions are met, such as revenue collections exceeding targets.

He said the House also proposed P137 billion for financial assistance programs such as the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations and the Presidential Assistance for Farmers and Fisherfolk.

PBC co-convener Kenneth Isaiah I. Abante warned that the billions of pesos allocated to undocumented infrastructure programs could lead to a repeat of the 2025 flood control scandal.

As of Oct. 26, Mr. Abante said the coalition's risk analysis of the infrastructure budget found that the House had inserted more than 7,000 projects worth P190 billion, all of which lacked published project attachments.

Of these, nearly 6,200 projects — most of them multipurpose buildings — worth P172 billion were inserted under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), he said.

Mr. Abante added that the House inserted 180 new health facilities worth P2 billion for the Department of Health even as it cut the overall health facilities budget. The chamber also added 200 new irrigation projects worth more than P7 billion under the National Irrigation Administration, carrying questionable cost assumptions.

He further identified an additional 350 farm-to-market roads worth nearly P6 billion in the Department of Agriculture budget, with coordinates located in the Philippine Rise, a vast undersea region east of Luzon. Others were pinned to Algeria and Nigeria.

"We aren't saying that all of these are corruption," Mr. Abante said. "We need these infrastructures, but we want them to be done well."

The PBC presented its findings before the Senate Committee on Finance on Monday, appearing alongside 27 other civil society organizations (CSOs) and government watchdogs invited to share their analyses and proposals on the proposed 2027 national budget.

Senator Joseph Victor G. Ejercito, chairperson of the committee, said the one-day consultation was intended to bring CSOs' participation directly into the national budget process.

To ensure such inclusion outlasts his chairship, Mr. Ejercito filed two measures seeking to institutionalize the participation of civil society groups in the preparation and authorization of the annual national budget. How the Senate weighs the flagged insertions as it shapes its own version of the spending bill — and whether the two measures filed by Mr. Ejercito gain traction — stand among the points to watch as the 2027 budget cycle advances. — Francessca S. Abalos

Source: BusinessWorld