With the government rolling out reforms in how infrastructure projects are planned, budgeted and implemented, Sen. Chiz Escudero called for public and local government participation in the process.
In a statement on Thursday, October 23, Escudero said infrastructure projects should first be vetted by local governments where they will be built before national agencies seek their inclusion in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).
The main problem, he stressed, is how projects are suddenly included in the final version of the national budget or the General Appropriations Act (GAA) without proper assessment of whether such projects were ‘feasible, needed or even real.’
‘It is even more important for local government units to endorse projects that lawmakers push as amendments, which are often inserted into the General Appropriations Act – the final version of the budget signed into law by the President,’ he said in Filipino.
The current system. In the budget process, agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) typically collect reports from their regional offices to identify priority projects in different provinces.
These are then compiled into a list with corresponding budget requests submitted to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), which prepares the National Expenditure Program (NEP).
Lawmakers usually enter the process during budget deliberations, when they lobby for projects needed in their districts or provinces – such as multipurpose buildings, courts, hospitals, bridges, roads and schools.
These come in the form of amendments in the budget once the NEP becomes the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) and goes through committee-level deliberations and plenary debates.
What he suggests can be done. Escudero said this should not be the case if the government wants to avoid corruption in infrastructure projects. Instead, proposed projects should have the endorsement of regional, provincial or municipal development council before any funds are disbursed by the DBM.
‘At the NEP stage, no unnecessary projects should be able to slip through. Only those that are priorities and truly essential to a province or town should be included in the NEP,’ he said in Filipino.
Escudero suggested these measures under his proposed Grassroots Infrastructure Planning and Budgeting Bill.
Amid political heat. The senator, meanwhile, has been linked to allegations of budget manipulation and kickback schemes in infrastructure projects, including flood control, which began during his time as Senate president.
Escudero has since denied the allegations, calling them part of a smear campaign against him.
He is also under investigation by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) over a P30 million donation he received from one of the country’s top flood control contractors during the 2022 elections.