Philippine House budget insertions face scrutiny in 2027 spending bill review

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2027 House budget scrutiny

Highlights

A review found 7,054 House-inserted projects worth P190 billion in the 2027 budget, with P15 billion lacking public documentation, raising oversight concerns.
Cash assistance programs nearly doubled following a P67.5-billion increase during subcommittee amendments, while P541.5 billion—almost half the fiscal space—went to what De Lima calls 'pork' allocations.
Funding was shifted with a P74.1-billion increase for the Department of Public Works and Highways’ Convergence Program, a P16.3-billion cut in flood management, and P130 billion in reductions to foreign-assisted projects.

Senate review focuses on undocumented amendments

As reported by BusinessWorld Online, Party-list Rep. and Senior Deputy Minority Leader Leila Norma M. de Lima is urging the Senate and the bicameral conference committee to examine congressional insertions in the 2027 General Appropriations bill after the House of Representatives approved the measure.

She points to a review by the People’s Budget Coalition that found 7,054 individual projects worth P190 billion out of 18,600 project line items introduced by the House. Of that amount, P15 billion in farm-to-market road and irrigation projects allegedly has no publicly posted project attachments, raising concerns over documentation and oversight.

De Lima says the lack of adequate documents makes the amendments suspicious because irregularities could occur in the realignment process. She says these concerns are among the reasons she voted against the House-approved budget, which she describes as patronage-driven.

She also says the budget has only P1.15 trillion in available fiscal space, with P541.5 billion, or nearly half, going to what she characterizes as pork allocations following amendments by the Budget Amendments and Review Subcommittee. Cash assistance programs, including aid for individuals in crisis, indigent patients and disadvantaged workers, nearly doubled from proposed National Expenditure Program levels after P67.5 billion was added during subcommittee amendments.

Funding shifts raise governance and election concerns

De Lima also flags a P74.1-billion increase in the Department of Public Works and Highways' Convergence Program alongside a P16.3-billion cut in flood management funding. She says the Local Government Support Fund rose to P62.6 billion, its largest allocation so far, a year before the 2028 elections.

She also questions P130 billion in cuts to foreign-assisted projects under the Department of Transportation, DPWH and other agencies, as well as reduced funding for health promotion, immunization, family planning commodities, classrooms, consular services for overseas Filipino workers and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund. In addition, she says the P112-billion allocation for unprogrammed appropriations remains vulnerable to abuse.

The lawmaker says the Supreme Court's earlier rulings voiding parts of the 2024 to 2026 budgets should guide both approval and implementation of the 2027 budget. She is calling for Congress to publish the names of amendment proponents, project locations, justifications and supporting documents for every budget change, and for the bicameral conference committee process to be opened to public participation.

De Lima warns that without public scrutiny, the 2027 budget could accommodate politically motivated allocations and become election-centered rather than people-centered. Senate budget deliberations resume in November, with senators targeting completion by the second week of December so President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has time to sign the spending plan before Christmas.

In our earlier article on Malaysia’s Budget 2027 spending surge, we noted that federal allocations rose 9.7% year on year to RM459.8 billion, outpacing most past election-year budgets. The piece highlighted historical patterns in which spending often stays elevated around general elections, with added pressures from election preparations as well as policy and event-driven costs, raising questions about fiscal discipline.

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