Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc on Tuesday challenged the House of Representatives to explain how and why it quietly increased its own budget by P10 billion in the proposed 2026 national budget.
In a press conference, ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio and Gabriela Rep. Sarah Elago noted that while the proposed P27.7-billion budget for the lower chamber was still lower than the P33-billion budget it had in 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), it’s still unclear which items exactly saw higher funding and from where it drew the money.
‘We call on the House to be transparent and explain the reason for this increase. What are the items involved, which items saw increases? Especially in this time of mounting corruption allegations, this move is insensitive to public sentiment to have transparency in the national budget,’ Elago said.
A comparison of the National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by the Department of Budget and Management to Congress and a copy of House Bill No. 4058 showed that it raised its own budget allocation from P17.2 billion to P27.7 billion-a 61 percent jump-in the proposed P6.7-trillion national budget for next year.
These changes did not appear in the reports of the House budget amendments review subcommittee and only appeared in the third version of the HGAB.
Much of this P10 billion increase went to the House’s maintenance and other operating expenses, which jumped from P10.7 billion in the NEP to P18.6 billion in the HGAB.
Within this budget line, the biggest increases went to communication expenses (+P1.07 billion) and an item called other maintenance and operating expenses (+P2.9 billion).
In a press conference last Wednesday, People’s Budget Coalition policy researcher AJ Montesa said the 61-percent hike was ‘very steep’ compared to other branches of government and worth noting since Congress controls the national budget.
While it was unclear where the increase was drawn from, an analysis conducted by the People’s Budget Coalition (PBC) says it could ‘reflect new insertions for infrastructure, assistance programs, or internal budgets.’
The funds could have been taken from two agencies that saw major cuts in the House’s version of next year’s budget: the Department of Public Works and Highways, which absorbed a P255-billion slash, and the Office of the Vice President, whose proposed funding was reduced to the 2025 level of P733 million.