Lawmakers also ‘denied’ transparency in 2027 budget bill

MANILA, Philippines — Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno on Tuesday said budget transparency had been denied not only to the public but also to members of the House of Representatives, many of whom were allegedly unaware of the details of the allocations approved by the chamber. 

“Transparency has not only been denied by the House leadership to the general public. It has also denied this to its own members,” Puno said.

The proposed 2027 budget has faced criticism following warnings from budget watchdogs over how the House adjusted the spending plan, including increased allotments for programs prone to patronage politics and concentrated public works funding hikes in districts aligned with the House leadership. 

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READ: NUP expresses optimism over talks with budget watchdogs – Puno

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Puno credited the People’s Budget Coalition’s (PBC) examination of the House version of the budget bill with exposing allocations that most lawmakers had not known about. 

“They were able to uncover information in the [House version] that 90 percent or more of our congressmen were unaware of,” he said, adding that even members of the House Appropriations Committee were surprised by the coalition’s findings. 

Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco also questioned the process, describing the way House budget amendments were finalized as an act of “bad faith” tied to the Budget Amendments Review Sub-committee (BARSc), which made P116 billion in adjustments to the spending bill. 

Independent PBC estimates placed total legislative amendments at nearly P200 billion. 

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Tiangco also questioned the exclusion of non-members from the subcommittee’s deliberations, saying the practice departed from the traditionally open nature of committee proceedings. 

“Let’s stop beating around the bush and pretending this was not deliberately concealed. It clearly was,” he said in Filipino. “There is no good faith; it is an act of bad faith.”