Lacson: Majority bloc united in getting rid of ‘pork’ from 2027 budget bill

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Sunday said the majority bloc supports Senate finance committee chair Sen. JV Ejercito’s efforts to remove “unwarranted, whimsical, and corruption-prone items” from the proposed 2027 national budget.

“The majority of senators are rallying behind Senate Finance Committee Chairman JV Ejercito’s efforts to cleanse the 2027 budget…,” Lacson said in a post on X.

He added that they support not only removing questionable allocations from the budget bill but also ensuring transparency in the process of crafting it.

Article continues after this advertisement

Lacson also stressed that “all means all” as far as their scrutiny of the proposed budget spending is concerned.

FEATURED STORIES

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

READ: JV, Lacson: Budget ‘bicam’ open to all, sparing none

Earlier, he said that senators will not exempt anyone, not even those considered close to the President, in correcting questionable allocations in the House version of the budget bill.

While he was not aware of any majority bloc member making project insertions in the budget bill, he said that he could sense his colleagues’ shared sentiment in their group chats.

“In the Senate, I don’t know if anyone would dare insert pet projects. I don’t think so. When we chat, I can feel the sentiment of my colleagues,” Lacson said. /ms