Nueva Ecija 1st District Rep. Mikaela Suansing has justified the need to put unprogrammed allocations (UA) in two separate sections for foreign-assisted projects (FAPs) under the proposed 2026 budget, noting that the government cannot just renege on its obligations for these programs.
Suansing, chairperson of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations, said in a press briefing on Monday that in the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), the UA for FAPs gets the biggest chunk – at P133.1 billion out of the total P243.2 billion.
This is a combination of purpose three and purpose four of the 11 UA purposes that Suansing mentioned. Purpose three is entitled Support to FAPs, or loan proceeds that would be approved and declared effective, while Purpose four is the Government of the Philippines counterpart of FAPs that are still undergoing negotiation.
‘I think both the House and the Senate were very clear on this, that we would need to retain the funding for foreign assisted projects under unprogrammed appropriations. And why is that so? Infrastructure projects lodged under DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) and DOTR (Department of Transportation) will only be allowed if these are foreign assisted projects or FAPs,’ Suansing said.
‘FAPS are projects funded by partner countries such as JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), the French ODA (official development assistance), multilateral bodies or other international entities such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and we need to retain the funding for FAPS because we cannot renege on our obligations and agreements to our development and international partners,’ she added.
Suansing said that the P133 billion UA for FAPs can be divided into three – 36.7 percent or P48.89 billion under FAPs that are still under negotiation; 28.8 percent or P38.33 billion that are newly-approved loans; and 34.5 percent or P45.85 billion that are additional tier two requirements of DOTr FAPs.
‘Second, the newly approved loans. I put that separate because when the NEP was finalized in July, these two projects under DSWD and DOH were still not finalized. And as of October 7, these two projects already have perfected agreements, that’s why we put it separate and the total for that would be P38 billion,’ she said.
‘And lastly, this is very interesting, P45 billion under FAPs are additional Tier Two requirements of ongoing foreign assisted projects under DOTR. What does that mean? This is P45.8 billion, they have a counterpart under the programmed appropriations of DOTR, but because the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) believes that the DOTr cannot spend the bulk of the fund (it was broken down),’ she added.
As to why there is a need for two separate items on FAPs, Suansing explained that there are two components to foreign projects – the loans that are granted to the country, and the funds that the Philippine government has to shell out.
‘Each foreign assisted project has two components, the first would be the loan proceeds, for projects whose funding come from our international partner. So that’s from JICA, from KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency), from ADB, World Bank. These are loan proceeds which are under (Purpose) number three,’ Suansing noted.
‘The second branch of the foreign assisted projects would be what you call GOP counterpart, this means that under the agreement, there is a part shouldered by our international development partner, there is a portion that our country will fund, that is just like counterpart projects of local government units in the country,’ she added.
While several groups hailed the current budget process for being more transparent than previous years, there were also concerns regarding the presence of unprogrammed appropriations in the proposed2026 national budget even if these are believed to have been used as an instrument for corruption inside flood control projects.
Last October 9, Minority member Akbayan party-list Rep. Percival Cendaña called out the transfer of UA for infrastructure projects in the proposed 2026 national budget to Foreign-Assisted Projects (FAP) – noting that it is just another form of unprogrammed funds.
Cendaña said that while allocations for the Strengthening Assistance for Government Infrastructure and Social Programs (SAGIP) were transferred to FAP, there is still a need to clarify where the funds would go because both are considered UA.
‘That is what we have observed, the reduction of the SAGIP projects, but when we saw it, it seems it was just transferred to the FAP, the Foreign Assisted Project,’ he said. ‘So we really need to scrutinize the allocations under UA.’
According to Cendaña, while there are reforms initiated for the budget process, it should be clarified how the UA will be appropriated.
‘Because while we have mentioned improvements, reforms, a lot still has to be explained, like the basic issues, like why are these items placed under the UA, if these are obligations that we should pay for our healthcare workers, if these are obligations under foreign loans when we implement foreign assisted projects,’ he said.
Last Monday, the House approved the GAB contained under House Bill (HB) No. 4058 with 287 lawmakers voting in favor, 12 against it, and two abstentions – despite concerns that it is allegedly still filled with UA and other ‘pork’ projects.
In his speech, Speaker Faustino ‘Bojie’ Dy III said HB No. 4058 might not be perfect, but ‘we made sure nothing was hidden, nothing was concealed, with the goal to ensure that every penny of the tax paid by our citizens is given back to them in the form of opportunities, services, and hope.’