CHANGES introduced by lawmakers during budget deliberations are part of the regular budget process, and provide a check and balance mechanism to ensure prudent use of public funds, Senate President Vicente Sotto III asserted Monday.
In a speech at the start of the regular session, Sotto sought to ‘clarify some matters brought to the forefront by recent events,’ after Senate President Pro Tempore reported in a radio interview at the weekend that ‘almost all’ senators made insertions in the 2025 budget. The current budget has been widely deemed ‘the most corrupt’ budget in recent years owing to the diversion of precious resources into graft-ridden flood-control projects.
‘Amendments, insertions or whatever you want to call it, whether individual or institutional, done during the deliberations in the Senate, are part of the regular budget process. It is within the mandate of the Senators to amend and determine the government spending allocation. It serves as a crucial check-and-balance mechanism to ensure that public funds are spent in accordance with the law.
‘It is unfortunate that the issue on ghost projects and failed flood control projects affect and generalized all amendments as illegal or improper,’ Sotto declared.
Some of these amendments are for additional classrooms, farm to market roads and bridges that will benefit our people, especially those in the far flung provinces. Some of which were never funded and were tagged ‘for later release’ (FLR). These requests come from LGU’s, province, municipalities and even barangays that were not included by their respective Regional Councils due to numerous reasons. These basic services are as equally important and it is within the duty of the Senators, upon assessment, to include these amendments that will benefit the people.’
He then assured the public that, as ‘agreed in our caucus, rest assured that for the 2026 budget, the Senate will institute changes for greater transparency, people’s participation and accountability. That is the reason that we have included live streaming in all the steps of the budget process.’
Palace: No ‘suspicious insertions’
Suspicious insertions by lawmakers in the future national budget will not be tolerated under the Marcos administration, according Malacañang.
This after Senator Lacson exposed that there were P100-billion total insertions from almost all senators of the 19th Congress in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
He said that while the said insertions were not entirely illegal, it was suspicious.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro admitted that Marcos was not aware of the said insertions in the 2025 GAA, but she said it will no longer be allowed in future national budgets, especially after the President and the public have expressed outrage against any corrupt practices in government public works.
‘When the budget was implemented, he definitely did not know in detail what the insertions of the said senators were,’ she said in Filipino in a press briefing in Malacañang last Monday.
‘But now, because the President has really seen and really noticed what happened to the funds for flood control projects, it has also resulted in him knowing about those kinds of insertions,’ she added.
The President created the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, which was tasked to investigate sub-standard and non-existent flood control projects and then recommend to concerned government agencies the prosecution of the involved individuals or parties.
In his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), Marcos said he will veto the 2026 GAA if it contains any provisions, which are not aligned with the priority of his administration.