Christmas is the season of giving, literally. Bonuses are released at this time of the year, making the working population financially liquid. At parties, cash prizes in the thousands are raffled off — a reason for joy for those who could add more food to their noche buena dinner. If Jose Mari Chan and Mariah Carey are the two most played artists during the Christmas season, the third place should go to the popular band Aegis for their song "Christmas Bonus."

The Philippine government made the most enormous splurge of all. Another reason for joy this Christmas is another increase in the national budget following the signing of the General Appropriations Act of 2024.

The budget is a staggering P5.768 trillion, an amount meant to be spent during the whole of 2024.

Included in the budget is the controversial insertion of P449.5 billion in "unprogrammed appropriations," reportedly on top of the budget total, which was added during the congressional bicameral conference committee hearing without the executive branch having asked for it.

On the other hand, the confidential funds originally allocated for the Office of the Vice President were not included. Verily, this GAA went through tumbles and turns but still got through nearly unscathed.

The winners, in the end, are the contractors of public infrastructure projects, who now will have more funding from the government coffers. A reported P822.2 billion was allocated to the DPWH in the National Expenditure Program, which is pre-GAA, so this remains to be verified. Notably, this reported amount is a P72-billion increase from the previous year. Out of this, the biggest share is allocated to flood control projects at P215.6 billion, or roughly 26 percent of the entire DPWH budget.

There should be a study on how the billions spent on these projects have effectively lessened flooding in urban and rural areas.

Senator Koko Pimentel, former Senate president and now Minority Leader, questioned the budget, labeling it "unconstitutional" — a heavy accusation, indeed. The aforementioned P449.5-billion insertion, according to him, effectively increased the budget to P6.498 trillion, which is beyond the original proposal of the executive branch.