If the congressmen do not want to do the job, then the mayors will do the difficult task of finding the individuals who made the anomalous insertions in the national budget for the past three years, including those who proposed the funding of controversial flood control projects.
The Mayors for Good Governance (M4GG) formally sent a letter to Speaker Faustino ‘Bojie’ Dy III on Thursday, requesting access to documents related to the national budget from 2023 to 2025 – the past three years when the Marcos administration proposed and approved its appropriation laws.
The letter was signed by M4GG convenors Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte, and Isabela, Basilan Mayor Sitti Hataman.
The group was specifically requesting access to National Expenditure Program (NEP) and General Appropriations Act (GAA) records for fiscal years 2023 to 2025, including specific line items and their proponents and/or endorsing offices.
‘We make this request in the spirit of transparency in the use of public funds and to ensure that allocations reflect the true needs of communities,’ said M4GG, which has the support of close to 200 local chief executives across the country since it was launched in August 2023.
‘Having access to these records will help local governments and civil society track implementation, strengthen accountability, and uphold public trust in our institutions,’ it added. Lawmakers in the the House of Representatives and Senate are pointing at each other on whose chamber did the insertions to line items of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget originate in the past years to fund questionable flood mitigation projects in different parts of the country, including those in provinces considered not flood-prone.
Congressional insertions in the national budget under the Marcos administration might have already ballooned to unprecedented levels, and could reach as much as P2 trillion between 2023 and 2025, according to former Budget Secretary Florencio ‘Butch’ Abad.
These include an estimated P600 billion in flood control projects added at the NEP stage.
Abad was referring to revelations in congressional inquiries into anomalous infrastructure projects that congressmen have been proposing flood control projects as early as the budget preparation stage in collusion with DPWH officials. The national budget legislation starts with the submission to the Congress of the NEP, which is prepared by the executive branch, specifically the Department of Budget and Management.
It serves as the blueprint for the succeeding year’s government expenditures.
The NEP is the basis of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), which is sponsored, presented and defended by the House of Representatives’ appropriations committee and subcommittees in plenary session.
As with other laws, the House version of the GAB must pass three readings before it is sent to the Senate.
Once both chambers agree on a final version of the GAB, it goes to the President where it is signed into law as the GAA, either as it is or with some line items vetoed.
During budget deliberations, Congress has the power to amend the NEP so long as the overall spending ceiling set by Malacañang is not breached.
This is also where insertions – also called pork barrel or parked funds – made by lawmakers come in.
During last year’s deliberations for the 2025 GAB, last-minute realignments and insertions happened at the bicameral conference committee level and the ‘small committee’ level-a practice flagged by public watchdogs because they occurred away from public scrutiny. As part of budget reform initiatives, the House in the current 20th Congress deliberating the 2026 national budget abolished the small committee, and created in its place the budget amendments review subcommittee (BARSC) under the appropriations panel.
Deliberations under BARSC were made in open plenary to show the public what items in the national budget are increased or decreased, and to note who made the following proposals.
But for Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, if the House leadership was truly serious about its push to reform public budgeting and investigate anomalous infrastructure projects, it should release the amendments made by the small committee at least for the 2025 national budget.
‘To show good faith, the House leadership should ask Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co, who was the chair of the appropriations committee at the time, to release the amendments made by the small committee for the 2025 budget,’ Tiangco said. ‘If the House leadership doesn’t release it, this is just for show. We cannot move forward and simply forget the wrongdoings of the past. We have to uncover the sins of the 2025 budget,’ he added.