THE Senate majority bloc has united behind efforts to strip questionable and corruption-prone allocations from the proposed 2027 national budget, aiming to restore full transparency to the legislative appropriations process, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said on Sunday.
‘The majority of senators are rallying behind Senate Finance Committee Chairman JV [Joseph Victor] Ejercito’s efforts to cleanse the 2027 budget of unwarranted, whimsical, and corruption-prone items. -ALL MEANS ALL!’ Lacson said in a statement.
The commitment comes amid heightened scrutiny of the House-transmitted version of the General Appropriations bill (GAB). Ejercito previously raised alarm over the reported realignment of approximately P206 billion within the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget by the House of Representatives.
Among the significant reductions flagged by Ejercito were cuts to critical government operations, including flood mitigation initiatives, calamity funds, foreign-assisted projects, right-of-way acquisitions, health promotion, child immunization, and local health facility programs.
A key focal point of the Senate’s review is the sudden surge in infrastructure allocations. Senate findings revealed that the number of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects expanded dramatically from 11,420 items under the executive branch’s original National Expenditure Program (NEP) to 16,244 items in the House-approved GAB.
Lacson pointed out that 6,271 of these new DPWH projects were inserted directly by lawmakers without undergoing initial vetting or technical evaluation by the Executive branch.
To address these unvetted additions, Ejercito secured a commitment from the DPWH to drop all infrastructure projects lacking complete documentation from the House-approved GAB before plenary debates commence, should the agency fail to submit the required paperwork by November 3.
In addition, Lacson affirmed that the Senate will systematically review every increase inserted into the DPWH allocation. This includes examining high-profile line items such as the budget for the First District of Ilocos Norte – represented by the President’s son Rep. Ferdinand Alexander Marcos – which recorded the single largest net increase among congressional districts.
Congress is set to resume plenary sessions on November 9, with Ejercito anticipating that formal floor debates on the 2027 budget bill will start on November 23 as senators work to finalize a clean fiscal plan before the end of the year.