Despite denials from the Marcos administration, pork barrel is still alive and well in the 2026 national budget, according to members of the militant Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives.
‘There is no pork barrel in the budget. Patently false. Pork barrel exists through congressional ‘allocables’ for infrastructure, party-list allocations, and presidential pork in Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA) and Confidential and Intelligence Funds,’ Makabayan said in a statement.
The bloc said it is disingenuous for some officials and lawmakers to invoke the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF.
‘While PDAF was struck down in 2013 for allowing lump-sum appropriations, today’s system of district allocations achieves the same result – district engineering offices receive equal amounts as if divided among lawmakers,’ Makabayan said.
‘This system enables lawmakers to nominate projects, influence biddings, choose contractors, and receive kickbacks. If there is no system like this, we will not go as far as this level of corruption,’ it added.
The Makabayan bloc includes Reps. Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers), Renee Louise Co (Kabataan) and Sarah Jane Elago (Gabriela women’s party).
In their joint statement, they assailed the House leadership for trying to hide P695.78 billion in pork barrel insertions consisting of ‘hard pork’ or infrastructure ‘allocables’ for lawakers’ pet projects and ‘soft pork’ for social welfare programs through which politicians can exercise patronage.
‘There is no pork in Unprogrammed Appropriations. Another falsehood. UA contains a dangerous backdoor through Special Provision No. 10, which gives DBM (Department of Budget and Management) wide latitude to realign funds within UA,’ Makabayan said.
‘While House leadership removed explicit infrastructure items, Special Provision No. 10 allows Malacañang to funnel money into infrastructure anyway,’ it added.
It also said Unprogrammed Appropriations give the President unchecked discretion, and thus are unconstitutional.
‘The Constitution provides for supplemental appropriations bills – a transparent process through Congress, not a presidential blank check,’ Makabayan said.
It also described as ‘myth’ the Marcos administration’s claim that the budget prioritizes agriculture, education and health.
‘While highlighting the P255 billion realignment from flood control, House leadership hides what else moved in the budget. There remains P174 billion for infrastructure projects lodged in the district engineering offices which are local centers of corruption and are concrete examples of ‘allocables.’ Based on our computation there are at least P230 million per congressman and P3.2 billion per senator of pork or ‘allocables,” the bloc said.
Makabayan also said that the claim that Unprogrammed Appropriations decreased in 2026 is misleading.
‘UA in 2025 NEP was P158 billion, which then ballooned to P243 billion during bicam. Malacañang proposed a smaller UA in the NEP to avoid scrutiny, then allowed this to be inflated during the during bicam when public attention wanes,’ it said.
Meanwhile, Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Leviste is seeking a reduction of government spending as well as of taxes such as the value-added tax.