Senate urged to scrap House GAA infrastructure insertions

People’s Budget Coalition (PBC) co-convener Adolfo Jose Montesa said House-inserted infrastructure projects lack key documents, including programs of work and certifications of implementability.

Senate PRIB / Released

MANILA, Philippines — A budget watchdog has urged the Senate to remove infrastructure projects inserted by the House of Representatives into the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget, citing lack of proper documentation and underfunding of foreign-assisted projects (FAPs).

People’s Budget Coalition (PBC) co-convener Adolfo Jose Montesa said House-inserted infrastructure projects lack key documents, including programs of work and certifications of implementability.

Some also do not align with infrastructure master plans.

“Otherwise, these would result in ghost projects, anomalous projects, unimplementable and overpriced projects,” Montesa told The STAR yesterday.

Montesa, along with PBC members and the Move As One Coalition, met with Senate finance committee chair JV Ejercito and Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian to present civil society groups’ findings on the 2027 budget approved by the House.

In its partial and unofficial analysis, the PBC found that lawmakers inserted 7,054 new infrastructure-related projects worth P190 billion that lacked publicly available project documents.

The House also removed 1,881 projects worth P93 billion that were included in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

It increased funding for 258 projects worth P7.5 billion while reducing allocations for 277 projects amounting to P91 billion.

Among key findings on infrastructure, the PBC said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)’s Basic Infrastructure Program accounted for P72 billion or 40 percent of the additions to budget line items in the House-approved General Appropriations Bill (GAB) compared with the NEP.

These are composed of additional P42.7 billion for DPWH multipurpose buildings and additional P29.3 billion for access roads.

To accommodate the additions, among others, the House cut P130 billion from FAPs across government agencies, according to the watchdog.

Among the projects affected were the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network, Metro Manila Subway, North-South Commuter Railway and the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge.

Among those that received cuts in the House GAB were the pension and gratuity fund, calamity fund, vaccine and family health supplies, health facilities enhancement program and classrooms.

The watchdog also reported P1.06-trillion red-flag budget items in the House-approved GAB. — Neil Jayson Servallos